Four people — three Indians and a Canadian of Indian origin — reportedly died on the arduous journey to the Kailash Manasarovar pilgrimage between Thursday and Saturday, reported the Hindustan Times.
The pilgrims died apparently due to heart attack and high altitude sickness due to weak bodily adjustment to high altitudes, which typically have thin air and require more oxygen.
The deceased are Daulat Singh (59) of Madhya Pradesh, Bhogilal Patel (76) from Rajasthan, B. Lingeshwara (62) and Krishna Murthy (62), a Canadian of Indian Origin.
A woman, from the first batch of the pilgrim yatra that began on June 12, had reportedly died earlier, as reported by the Hindu.
Vinay Kumar, the deputy chief of mission of the Indian embassy in Kathmandu, informed the Hindustan Times that all casualties took place in the Tibetan region.
Around 1,430 pilgrims are expected to go on pilgrimage this year, according to an Economic Times report.
The journey that usually takes around 25 days and involves high altitudes of 19, 500 feet is organised by the Ministry of External Affairs annually, while part of the journey beyond Nathula pass is supervised by Chinese officials.
Currently, Kailash Manasarovar can be reached via Lipulekh pass as well as Nathula pass since the latter was opened by Chinese premier Xi Jingping following an appeal from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In a bid to boost religious tourism, the government plans to complete construction of the Kailash Manasarovar highways via Uttarakhand by April next year, Union minister Nithin Gadkhari was quoted as saying.
