Seven Yarsagumba collectors die in Darchula as of Sunday

By Our Correspondent,Darchula, May 22: Paras Mahara, a 14-year-old boy of Duhun Rural Municipality-5, who had gone to Yarsagumba, the unique herb of the Himalayas, in Vyas Rural Municipality of Darchula died in a lightning strike on Wednesday.

Along with this, the number of people who died during Yarsagumba harvesting has reached seven this year.

Gyanendra Bahadur Singh, Information Officer and Police Inspector at the District Police Office of Darchula informed that the body of Mahara, who was killed in the lightning strike at  1:00 pm on Wednesday while he was collecting the herb in Syangpa Patan of Byas, was brought to Khalanga, the district headquarters of Darchula, only on Saturday afternoon.

He, further,  said that 42-year-old Birsingh Aitwal of Changru of Vyas Rural Municipality-1, died on Thursday after he was hit by a stone that fell from above. He was picking Yarsagumba in Kunti area of Vyas Rural Municipality-1 when the rock hit him.  On May 19, five people were killed in an avalanche in Bholum of Vyas Rural Municipality.

Those who lost their lives in the avalanche included 38-year-old Kamala Kunwar, 18-year-old Pravin Kunwar of Duhun Rural Municipality-4 in Darchula and 45-year-old Nakki Doma Thapa, 28-year-old Ishwari Thapa and 15-year-old Chhimi Samo Thapa. 

Seven people had managed to escape the avalanche. On Saturday night last week, three people from Duhun Rural Municipality were injured in a lightning strike in the Humdumti area of Vyas.

The three injured persons were rescued by a helicopter only four days after the incident and were taken to Kathmandu for treatment. 

Krishna Bahadur Mahara, a relative of the victims, said that the health condition of the injured was gradually improving.

Four accidents occurred in the last three weeks in Byas Rural Municipality of Darchula where the locals were collecting Yarsagumba.  In these incidents, seven people lost their lives and three others sustained injuries in lighting strikes. 

Hundreds of people have reached the uplands risking their lives to collect Yarsagumba this season. Locals who went to the high mountain areas to collect Yarsagumba in the second week of May will return home only in the second week of July. 

Yarsagumba, which is the main source of livelihood for the locals in the Himalayan and high mountain areas, has become a leading cause of death, said one Yarsagumba collector, Uttam Jagri. All the villagers in the Himalayan region leave their village to collect Yarsagumba because of the good price it fetched for them. Only one or two persons stay back in the village to guard the entire the village.

Locals said that students, children and most of the senior citizens go to collect the half-plant-half-insect herb risking their lives every year. As teachers and students also go to collect Yarsagumba this season, teaching-learning activities get affected. 

Daman Dhami, a resident of Apihimal, said that the collection of Yarsagumba for two months covers the locals’ household expenses for the whole year.