In a bid to get his name written in the Guinness Book of World record, Shumsher Bahadur Lamsal of Mirlung, Tanahun, had built a 105 m tunnel using bamboo through which he was to pass in a motorbike as volunteers set the tunnel on fire. [break]
The accident occurred due to a misunderstanding among the volunteers hired to set fire to the tunnel. Lamsal himself received minor injury in the accident.
Suresh Panta of Ghansikuwa VDC-4, Tanahu, and Bharat Singh Thapa (Pariyar) of Vyas VDC-11, two of the volunteers hired to set fire to the tunnel, received serious burn injuries after being engulfed in the fire.
The victims, who were initially admitted to Manipal Teaching Hospital of Pokhara, were later sent to Kathmandu on an air ambulance for further treatment.
“We took them to Kathmandu after the doctors at Manipal hospital said their condition was critical,” Hari Krishna Thapa, brother of Bharat said. Suresh has been admitted at Bir Hospital, while Bharat is receiving treatment at Life Care Hospital in Sundhara.
They were brought to Kathmandu in the air ambulance along with two doctors at the expense of Rs 2.5 million.
The victims´ family members said the incident turned into a disaster as no proper precaution were taken before the start of the stunt.
“Both the organizers and administration were careless,” said Hari Krishna, “Now we are having a hard time to get them treated due to our poor economic condition.”
According to a doctor at Manipal Teaching Hospital who was involved in the treatment of the victims, Suresh has received 50 percent burns, whereas Bharat has 90 percent burns. “As all parts of their body have burn injuries, we had great difficulty in treating them,” said the doctor.
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