Kathmandu: Nepal has suspended the licence of a mountain resort for three months after a probe found security lapses at the hotel for the incident that led to the death of eight Indians, including four minors, due to possible asphyxiation, a senior official said here Wednesday.
Tragedy struck a group of 15 tourists from Kerala when eight of them died January 21 due to possible asphyxiation after they fell unconscious probably due to a gas leak from a heater in their room at the Everest Panorama resort in Makwanpur district.
After a five-member probe committee formed by Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation to investigate the tragedy, submitted its report, the ministry decided to suspend the transaction of the resort for three months, said Surendra Thapa, director at the Department of Tourism, who headed the panel.
Although the committee found some fault on the part of the Indian visitors, security lapse at the resort was also found to be one of the reasons behind the incident, Thapa said.
The resort management has been asked to carry out renovation works and take safety measures after conducting initial environment examination and environment impact assessment before reopening it.” We have asked the resort to ensure that proper safety measures are in place before reopening the property,” Thapa stated.
Eight Indian tourists, including four children, belonging to the two families stayed in a single room burning a big gas heater without opening any ventilation. All were found unconscious next morning when the hotel boy opened the door to serve breakfast.
The tourists were airlifted to HAMS hospital here where they were pronounced dead on arrival.
The probe committee pointed out that there was poor security management and managerial weakness on the part of the resort, which led to the sad incident, it said.
Those who were killed were Praveen Krishnan Nair, his wife Saranya Sasi and their three children and Ranjith Kumar Adatholath Punathil, his wife Indu Lakshmi Peethambaran Ragalatha and their son.
PTI
