PHIDIM: A person died after the gun he was filling in with gunpowder exploded in Phalelung Rural Municipality-8 of Panchthar district on Tuesday night.

The deceased has been identified as local resident Muskan Jawegu (25).

The gun exploded killing Jawegu on the spot while was filling its muzzle with gunpowder last night, according to police. Jawegu and his associate Dhana Bahadur Jawegu were hunting deer at the time.

Dhana Bahadur found him dead when he rushed to the incident site after hearing the blast, subsequently, he informed the villagers of the unfortunate incident, according to police.

The preliminary investigation points to carelessness in handling the arm as police found that the duo had consumed alcohol in the hunting trip.

The body of the deceased was handed over to his family members after the postmortem concluded.

Meanwhile, Dhan Bahadur has been detained for further investigation into the incident, informed Police Inspector Bigyanraj Basnet at the District Police Office, Panchthar.

Recently, police have appealed to the licence holders to surrender the arms in view of forthcoming poll security. However, only few arms from the rural areas have been handed over to the authorities, police informed.