MAKAWANPUR: Barely a week after the departure of Sunil Lamichhane and Nawaraj Khadka to a foreign land seeking greener pastures, their kin back home were left grief-struck. The unfortunate schoolday’s friends died in a chopper crash in the Afghan airport of Kandahar.

Twenty-four-year-old Sunil of Chhatiwan and 22-year-old Nawaraj of Shikharpur villages in Makwanpur district had taken a loan to finance their travel to Afghanistan.

An SLC graduate, Sunil ran a photo studio in Kathmandu before leaving for the troubled country. He was lured by his friends’ talks that they were earning handsomely there. Sunil put an end to his venture, returned home, borrowed Rs 2 lakh