Eight tourists, including four children, all from Kerala, have died after they were found unconscious in their room at a hill resort in Nepal yesterday, police said.
The eight – two couples and their children – had slept in one room at a hotel in Daman, a popular tourist destination in Makwanpur district about 55km from Kathmandu.
“They were found unconscious this morning and airlifted to Kathmandu but died during treatment,” police spokesman Shailesh Thapa Chettri said.
The families used a gas heater in their room to keep warm, a district official said.
“We suspect they died of suffocation, but autopsy reports will confirm the cause,” Chettri added.
In Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his cabinet colleagues expressed grief.
Vijayan’s office said arrangements were being made to bring back the bodies at the earliest.
Kerala Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran said he was in touch with the central government.
The news was first confirmed by Minister for State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan.
“The families of Renjith and Praveen, both aged 39, have been reported dead. What has been informed is they died due to suffocation from carbon monoxide that might have emanated from the room heater, as it was very cold. Their bodies have now been brought to Kathmandu and will be taken to Thiruvananthapuram,” the minister said.
Praveen, a native of Thiruvananthapuram and is working in the Gulf, had returned for a holiday. Renjith is from Kozhikode and had earlier worked in the IT industry.
“He started his own business in Kozhikode,” said a neighbour.
The eight were part of a group of 15 people who had travelled to Pokhara from Kerala, and were returning home.
India is Nepal’s biggest source of tourists, making up some 16% of visitors to the Himalayan nation.
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