8 Indian tourists dead in Nepal resort

Kathmandu/Thiruvananthapuram: Tragedy struck a group of 15 tourists from Kerala in Nepal when eight of them, including four children, died after they fell unconscious probably due to a gas leak from a heater in their room at a mountainous resort, amidst cold wave in the Himalayan region.

The Indian tourists were airlifted to HAMS hospital in Kathmandu where they were pronounced dead on arrival, Superintendent of Police Sushil Singh Rathaur said.

Makwanpur police said the victims might have fallen unconscious due to asphyxiation.

"All eight were airlifted and brought to hospital in Kathmandu. A doctor from the Indian mission was also immediately sent to the concerned hospital to check on welfare of patients and to provide necessary assistance," a source at the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu said.

"We have now been informed that all eight patients did not survive," the source added.