MUSTANG:-  Thirteen tourists, including nine foreigners, have lost their lives in Mustang due to altitude sickness due to mountain high altitude as of Jestha 15 of the current fiscal year. The District Police Office has stated that the number of deaths due to altitude sickness were among the religious tourists who had come to visit the holy religious site of Muktinath here.

According to Police Inspector Santosh Basyal of the District Police Office, 13 tourists have died due to altitude sickness in the past 10 and a half months of the current fiscal year. Among the deceased, three are Nepali men and one woman, while seven are foreign men and two are women. Police Inspector Basyal mentioned that all the tourists who had come to Mustang for religious pilgrimage had fallen ill in Waragung Muktikshetra and Gharpajhong rural municipality and died while undergoing treatment at the Provincial Hospital in Jomsom.

According to the statistics of the Police Office, a high number of Indian tourists die of altitude sickness in Mustang. The problem of altitude sickness deaths has been observed due to the failure of tourists coming from the flat areas of the valley to the mountainous areas of the Himalayan district of Mustang to take adequate health precautions and vigilance. Police Inspector Basyal mentioned that tourists visiting the high altitude mountainous area, 3,000 meters above sea level, face the problem of dizziness due to low oxygen levels.

The concerned government offices here have also been conducting public awareness programs to reduce the problem of dizziness due to high altitude. The Provincial Public Health Office, ECAP, Muktinath Development Committee, local levels and security agencies have been conducting various activities related to high altitude.

An awareness board regarding the problem of altitude sickness has been placed at Thasang-4 Ghansa, on the border of Myagdi and Mustang, along the national pride Beni-Jomsom road section. ECAP Chief Rajesh Gupta informed that this year, ECAP has put up boards at tourist hotspots from Ghansa to Muktinath. Similarly, the Provincial Public Health Office has also printed signboards and brochures related to high altitude and distributed them to tourists, said Senior Public Health Officer Bidya Tamang.

The incident of altitude sickness has not been reduced because the relevant travel agencies and hotels have failed to provide adequate information about high altitude to tourists visiting Mustang. The problem of altitude sickness has also been compounded by the practice of various travel companies taking tourists to their destinations together without holding them.

Khagendra Bohora, Health Coordinator of Waragung Muktikshetra, informed that the Provincial Hospital Jomsom and Waragung Muktikshetra have managed a ‘High Altitude Treatment Center’ at Muktinath Temple to protect the health of Muktinath pilgrims.