Dhading, April 16

A youth who worked in Chitwan and was returning home on foot amid the lockdown is learnt to have died after falling off a suspension bridge linking Dhading and Gorkha districts last night.

The deceased has been identified as Hom Bahadur Rana Magar of Bajhaghar, Jwalamukhi Rural Municipality, Dhading.

He died after falling off the Bunkotghat suspension bridge over the Budhigandaki River that flows between Dhading and Gorkha.

Locals at Bunkotghat had blocked the bridge a few days ago in view of the recent pandemic. The blocked bridge had ever since created problems for locals to commute.

“He had called his family last night and informed them that he was coming and told them to receive him at the bridge. His family went to meet him there but didn’t find him,” said Krishna Prasad Kapri, chair of Ward No 5, Jwalamukhi Rural Municipality.

Magar was found dead under the bridge the next morning when his family, growing suspicious, returned to the bridge and searched for him.

According to sources of the deceased’s family, Magar lived in Chitwan with his family before the lockdown. After the lockdown was imposed, his wife had returned home a few days ago.

Magar, however, had decided to stay put hoping that the restrictive provision would end. However, he too had left for home yesterday after he saw little signs that the lockdown would ease anytime soon. “As the locals had blocked the bridge to implement the lockdown strictly, he might have fallen while trying to negotiate the bridge,” Kapri said.

At many places in Dhading, barriers have been put up on roads to stop the movement of people.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on April 17, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.