A 45-year-old man died after he fell into Mahakali while crossing the river using an impoverished cable crossing, locally called Tuin, in Dumling area of Darchula district on Saturday.

According to Dhiran Singh Budhathoki, the ward chairman of Byas Rural Municipality-2, Singdal Singh Bhandari of Dumling plunged into the river while he was heading to India using the cable crossing. Bhandari went to receive his mother who was returning home from Khalanga, the district headquarters of Darchula, by using a road on the Indian side, locals said. The local residents of Byas are compelled to use Indian territory as there is no road on the Nepal side.

Bhandari’s body was recovered on the river bank on the Indian side. Police Inspector Gyanendra Bahadur Singh said that the body was brought to Nepal and handed over to the bereaved family.

The local people of Byas and other remote villages of Darchula, a hill district of Sudurpaschim Province, risk their lives daily to cross the Mahakali river through cable crossings for a lack of suspension bridges in the area. Accidents and deaths while crossing the river using tuins, wooden boats, tyre tubes, and wooden logs are reported every year.

In the first week of January, a 10-year-old boy died after he fell into the Mahakali river while using a cable crossing in Dokat village of Byas Rural Municipality.

During his first stint as a prime minister, KP Sharma Oli in 2015 had pledged to replace all tuin crossings in the country with suspension bridges but the people of Darchula have yet to see this plan come to fruition.

On July 30, 2021, Jaya Singh Dhami from Khangdang Mal of Byas Rural Municipality-2 fell into the Mahakali river after Indian security personnel allegedly untied the cable of the tuin Dhami was using to cross the river.

Hundreds of people living near to the Mahakali river in Darchula go to India to buy basic essentials, get treatment for minor illnesses or injuries, and earn their livelihood.