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Kochi, Jan 21: Eight tourists from Kerala were found dead in a resort at Daman in Makwanpur district of Nepal, reports said. The dead include a couple and four minor children.

The deceased were identified as Praveen Kumar Nair (39), Saranya (34), Ranjith Kumar T.B (39), Indu Ranjith (34), Sreebhadra (9), Abhinav Soorya (9), Abhi Nair (7) and Vaishnav Ranjith (2).

The deceased are from Chengottukonam in Thiruvananthapuram and Kundamangalam in Kozhikode. Praveen, a travel enthusiast hailing from Chengottukonam, went on the Nepal trip with his wife, three children and friends from Kochi, last week.

 “They were using a gas heater in the room. Suffocation might have caused their death,” said superintendent of police Sushil Singh Rathore of the District Police Office in Makwanpur, news agencies reported.

According to newspaper reports here, the deaths occurred at a resort named Everest Panorama. They were airlifted to HAMS hospital where they were pronounced dead on arrival, superintendent of police Sushil Singh Rathaur said.

They were part of a group of 15 people travelling from Kerala to Pokhara, a popular mountain tourist destination, The Himalayan Times reported.

They were on their way back home and stayed at Everest Panorama resort in Daman in Makawanpur district on Monday night.

The tourists are suspected to have died of asphyxiation after turning on the gas heater and shutting all the windows to keep warm.  Hotel staff opened the room using duplicate keys as there was no response from the rooms when the other members of the group went to check on them.

According to the manager of the resort, the guests stayed in a room and turned on a gas heater to keep themselves warm. Although they had booked a total of four suites, eight of them stayed in a room, the manager said, adding that all the windows and the door of the room were bolted from inside.

“All arrangements have been made to bring the bodies to Kerala at the earliest. The Union government is coordinating with the Indian Embassy in Nepal. A doctor from the Indian embassy will be present during the post mortem. Other members of the group are being brought to Kathmandu by road,” said Union minister V Muraleedharan.

Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that NORKA will coordinate with Nepal authorities to bring dead bodies.

 “Embassy officials are at the government hospital where a post mortem is being done. Formalities will be completed at the earliest and arrangements are in place to bring dead bodies by Wednesday evening. State government is in constant contact with Nepal authorities,” said Kadakampally Surendran, tourism minister.

Thiruvanathapuram, Mar 27: The state is heading for its worst ever crisis with coronavirus cases increasing rapidly and Kasargod district the worst hit. On Friday alone 39 positive cases were reported in the state of which 34 are from Kasargod.

Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the situation is grave and Kasargod has been the worst hit. More than the positive cases reported in the district, the worrying factor is that many people have come into contact with these positive cases.

The chief minister warned that the government will be forced to declare the names of the people who are defying the quarantine guidelines in the district. More people have been put under risk in the district and the district administration is much concerned since the results of 215 samples are yet to come.

There is no other way but to tighten the restrictions imposed in the district against the people coming out of their houses. The government has decided to provide more facilities to the hospitals in Kasargod and Kannur to meet an emergency.

The medical college hospital in Kannur will be converted into a coronavirus hospital with 200 bed strength. Steps have been taken to equip the medical college hospital with more facilities. The Central University at kasargood will be converted into as a temporary coronavirus treatment centre. 

The state has also requested permission from ICMR to begin the testing facility here, said the chief minister.

The total number of positive cases reported in the state have now become 176 of which 12 have been discharged after testing negative. At present 164 positive people are admitted in several hospitals of the state.

On Friday of the 39 positive cases, two are from Kannur and one each from Thrissur, Kollam and Kozhikode. With this all the districts in the state have been now affected with coronavirus.