JOMSOM: A total of 13 tourists—9 foreign nationals and 4 Nepalis—have died from high-altitude sickness in Mustang over the course of the current fiscal year (up to May 29).

According to the District Police Office Mustang, these cumulative fatalities occurred over a 10.5-month period as tourists traveled above 3,000 meters to visit the sacred Muktinath Temple.

Local health and security officials emphasize that the deaths are a tragic result of a continuous, year-long pattern where travel agencies rush visitors from low-lying plains to high altitudes without allowing adequate time for acclimatization.