A couple died in an apparent sauna accident at a gym in Lalitpur on Wednesday.

Police said Hasta Garbuja Magar and his wife Netra Kumari Pun were reportedly found lying unconscious inside the sauna room of Fit and Fine Gym Centre at Tikhedewal at around 9 pm. The couple were rushed to Patan Hospital, where doctors declared them dead on arrival.

Magar was a personal secretary to former minister Thama Maya Thapa. He and his wife were regular to the gym. 

The gym staff had reportedly called the police after the couple did not come out of the sauna for a long time.

“We suspect that the couple died due to suffocation. They had been inside the sauna room for hours,” said Senior Superintendent of Police Tek Bahadur Rai, the chief of Lalitpur Metropolitan Police Range.

Police are also investigating if the couple’s death had anything to do with the poor safety standards at the gym.

“We have not made any arrests, but we are in touch with the gym operators to help us with our investigation,” Rai said.

Many fitness centres in the city have steam and sauna rooms these days. Since taking saunas and steam baths are relatively new additions to the country’s burgeoning fitness culture, many people do not know that spending too long inside sauna and steam rooms could be dangerous.

“Sauna is a room designed as a place to experience dry heat or wet heat, but in many places, they are operated without any proper knowledge about its use,” said an owner of a spa based in Thamel, on the condition of anonymity. 

“There are things which need to be considered like the duration of use and customer’s medical history. One can suffer from dehydration and even pass out if they spend too much time inside a sauna room.”

Many sauna service providers, however, do not explain this danger to their customers, many of whom are inexperienced.