Nepal forms probe committee to investigate death of 8 Indian tourists in Makwanpur

The Department of Tourism here on Tuesday formed a probe committee to investigate the death of eight Indian tourists who lost their lives due to possible unconsciousness in a hotel room of a resort in Daman, a tourist destination near Kathmandu, on the way back from a trip to Pokhra.

The eight Indian tourists, including four adults and four children, were found unconscious at the resort while they undergoing treatment at a hospital in Kathmandu on Tuesday, according to the police.

The deceased, who hailed from Kerala, were part of a group of 15 people who had come on a trip to Nepal and had made a stop-over at Daman after visiting Pokhara, Makwanpur Superintendent of Police (SP) Sushil Singh Rathore told ANI earlier in the day.

Meanwhile, Kerala Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran said that his Department had contacted the Indian Mission in Kathmandu over the incident and was informed was that postmortem and other actions "are being conducted swiftly."

"All are with us and we're trying to bring the bodies tomorrow itself," he said.

"DGP had a talk with IG in Nepal and they are trying to complete the formalities soon. I have directed DGP to update me frequently. Had discussed this with the MoS MEA V Muraleedharan and he is constantly in touch with embassy authorities," Surendran added.

Surendran said he had spoken with Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan over the telephone and was assured of necessary interventions.

All the four had stayed in the same room at night and turned on a gas heater to keep warm causing their death due to probable asphyxiation. "The group had checked in at the hotel at 9 pm on Monday. An investigation is underway," the police said.

All the eight deceased have been identified as Praveen Krishnan Nair, Saranya Sasi, Sreebhadra Praveen, Aarcha Praveen, Abhinav Saranya Nair, Ranjith Kumar Adatholath Punathil, Indu Lakshmi Peethambaran Ragalatha, and Vyshnav Ranjith.

Their bodies were taken for postmortem to at Teaching Hospital today afternoon. Soon after the postmortem, the bodies will be handed over to the family of the deceased ones, officials at the hospital said.