An 81-year-old US tourist today died after he was swept away by a swollen river in Nepal, where flooding and landslides have claimed 120 lives since last week while 130 others are still missing.
The American man was found dead on the banks of the Paruwa river in Banke district of western Nepal, 600 km west of Kathmandu, where torrential rains last week triggered multiple landslides and flooding, devastating entire villages in two dozen districts.
"The bridge on the river was swept away by flooding a few days ago and it seems that the elderly American man was swept away by the current," Home Ministry spokesperson Laxmi Prasad Dhakal said.
Police have started an investigation into his death and are trying to contact his family in the US, he informed.
The man, who arrived in Nepal last May, had boarded a bus from Kathmandu bound for the far-western district of Kailali, and had stopped en route in flood-hit Banke district, according to the official.
Earlier this month, a massive landslide swept away an entire village in the east of Kathmandu, killing 156 people.
