– Bhojraj Karki

Altogether 10 foreign tourists were rescued from various places in the Khumbu region to Kathmandu amid the nation-wide lockdown after they were reported with health issues.

Six tourists were airlifted on Tuesday while four from Pangboche at Budhakar Rural Municipality in the region on Wednesday, shared Chief District Officer in Solukhumbu Rama Acharya. The District Administration Office, Solukhumbu had coordinated for the rescue operation after their health issues.

Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, Lukla Chief Imannath Adhikari shared that all four rescued on Wednesday were Russian nationals. Most of them were suffering from high altitude sickness while cases of bleeding were also reported among the rescued ones.

According to the Nepal Police in Lukla, there are currently 136 foreign tourists in Luka, the gateway of Everest. As many as 300 tourists have been stranded across the Khumbu region since the nation-wide lockdown was imposed on Tuesday. “There’s chance of shortage of food items for the tourists in the highland,” worried Chief of Police at Nepal Police in Solukhumbu, Tekunanda Iwa.

He said that food were in short supply for around 700 foreign tourists at Tangna of Mahakulung Rural Municipality ward no 1.