You have reached the main content

24 Nepalis die in 'unnatural' circumstances in Qatar

On July 4, 2009

The past month has seen an unprecedented number of deaths among Qatar's population of Nepali workers, according to the Nepali embassy in Qatar. 24 Nepali men died between May 1st and June 5th this year as a result of health problems, suicides and work accidents.

According to a report by Nepali daily The Himalayan Times:

Yadav Dhakal died due to kidney failure while Amrit Bahadur Basnet, Ram Naresh Pandit, Gagan Tharu, Jhamak Bahadur Thapa, Saran Limbu, Sanu Kanchha Acharya, Ram Bahadur KC, Shatrughan Chaudhary and Bheshraj Rai died due to cardiac arrest and respiratory diseases.
Kedar Joshi died after falling from an under-construction high-rise building while Pheku Mandal and Kesi Prasad Limbu died due to cardiac arrest. Khadga Shrestha died due to electrocution and Durga Prasad Shrestha was killed in a road accident.
Karna Bahadur Yadav and Muktinath Ghimire committed suicide. The list states that Dipendra Bhandari, Kul Bahadur Bhandari, Dinesh Safi and Jeet Bahadur Makhim died due to heart attack in May.
Kari Charan Chaudhari and Yadav Kumar Shrestha died due to heart attack while Nani Chhori Maharjan died in a road accident in the first week of June, the report states.

Cardiac arrests are a particularly common cause of death among healthy Nepali men, thought to be caused by undertaking heavy manual labour in temperatures as high as 50 degrees.