KATHMANDU: Two people have died this week in Yarsagumba collection areas of Mugum Karmarong Rural Municipality of Mugu district.
A student of Grade IX at Buddha Secondary School at Mangri village, Asal Tamang, 16, of ward 7 died of breathing difficulty arising from altitude sickness on Friday afternoon.
Tamang had gone to Take Patan area to collect the medicinal herb, Yarsagumba. He died at Chhotechaur while being carried to the village for treatment.
Ward 7 Chairman Shashank Lama said two people have died in less than a week in the Yarsa collection areas.
Police constable Raj Bahadur Singh, who was deployed at the District Police Office for the security of the Yarsa collectors, himself died of altitude sickness at Koika Patan on Wednesday.
Though, Singh was rushed to Kohalpur Teaching Hospital on a Nepali Army helicopter for treatment, he died at the hospital, said District Police Office, Mugu.
People who go to pick yarsagumba get sick due to high altitude and die every year in the absence of immediate rescue and medical treatment.
Locals climb altitudes of up to 4,500 to 5,500 meters in the Himalayas in order to earn money by picking the medicinal herb.
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