Three persons were killed when the boundary wall of the British Embassy at Lazimpat collapsed due to the earthquake and hit the persons on the road.

The victims have been identified as Sajan Shrestha, 36, Anisha Shrestha, 8, and Bir Bahadur Majhi, 19. They were on the street when the debris of the wall struck them.

Meanwhile, two persons were killed in Dharan due to injuries they sustained while running for safety, reports said. The deceased have been identified as Bimal Pariyar and Santosh Pariyar.

Meanwhile, TV reports showed at least three injured persons admitted at different hospitals in Kathmandu. They sustained injuries while rushing out of their places after the jolt.

Police personnel have been mobilised for rescue in some areas of Taplejung and Sankhusabha districts where damages of properties have been reported.
According to the National Seismologic Center (NSC), the epicenter of the 6.8 magnitude earthquake was in the border of Taplejung and the Indian state of Sikkim. Tremors were felt throughout Nepal and some parts of India

Several tourism products such as art and culture, tourist destinations, home stay, documentary and cultural exhibition of 62 districts, including others, will be exhibited through 100 stalls at the three-day fair.

With the Nepal Tourism Year-2011 aiming to attract 1 million tourists this year, promotion of domestic tourism is expected to help the cause of NTY. Reasling the importance of domestic tourism in uplifting the economy, the government is also planning to approve paid leave to civil servants for visiting different tourism destinations.

“Such fairs boost the confidence of tourism entrepreneurs,” said Prachanda Man Shrestha, chief executive officer of Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), the organiser of the event. “We are organising such fairs throughout the country,” he said during the inaugural function of the fair.

Stakeholders, however, expressed concern over the weak promotion of NTY in the international level. The NTY-2011 secretariat had planned to promote NTY in consumer markets including India and China through international media from January. However, the campaign is yet to begin.

Admitting that the board failed to effectively promote NTY in major consumer markets, Yogendra Shakya, national coordinator of NTY-2011, said, “Had we launched the promotional campaign on time, the growth rate of tourist arrivals would have been 31 percent. Currently, the growth rate stands at 20 percent. Shakya, however, expressed disappointment over the shortage of aircraft with Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC). “We are lagging behind in bringing tourists from neighbouring countries,” said Shakya.

Tourist arrivals swelled 22.9 percent in the first five months of Nepal Tourism Year with the country hosted 208,137 foreign visitors during the period of January-May, according to NTB. Nepal has targeted bringing 700,000 tourists by air during NTY while 1 million including both air and land routes.

The marathon is being held annually at the highest altitude in the world since May 29, 2003.

Everest Marathon

“I find it easy to run in the mountains but I can´t run in the plains,” said Sudip Kulung, the winner of the men´s category who grew up in the laps of the towering peaks of Solukhumbu district.

The 23-year-old from Gudel village fought his way through the rocky terrains of the Everest Base Camp all the way to Namche covering a distance of 42.19 km in 3 hours 45 minutes 49 seconds.

Ram Kumar Rajbhandari from Khotang finished second with a timing of 3 hours 49 minutes 6 seconds while three-time winner Deepak Raj Rai, after a two-year hiatus, claimed the third position in 3 hours 50 minutes 51 seconds.

The descent from the base camp, situated at a height of 5360 m above the sea level, to Namche at 3440 m was not easy for the runners as the route consists of lots of uphills and downhills with thin air exposing the runners to the threat of altitude sickness making the marathon even more daunting.

However, the Nepali athletes, familiar to the landscape made head-start over the foreign participants who were equally eager to compete but couldn´t keep up the pace.

The winner of the women´s category Ang Futi Sherpa says she doesn´t find the trail difficult at all because she has been walking along the route ever since her childhood days.

With the victory, 25-year-old Sherpa claimed her third consecutive title. She finished the marathon in 4 hours 46 minutes 14 seconds while second-placed Mingma Lohmu Sherpa clocked 5 hours 7 minutes 37 seconds. Cheechee Sherpa was third with a timing of 5 hours 20 minutes 20 seconds.

Everest Marathon

Earlier, Kulung said that continuity in the game helped him win the title in his fourth attempt. Kulung was the runner-up in the last edition. This time he won the title just two days after winning the Khumjung Goden Jubilee Race Competition.

“Regular training is also very important. But that´s not possible without sponsors because we need proper diet which we cannot afford on our own.”

He is one of the fortunate athletes who get sponsors to receive training abroad and participate in international competitions.

He will be traveling to Switzerland to compete in the 26th Swiss Alpine Marathon on July 30 and to Malaysia for the 25th Mount Kinabolu International Climbathon (21 km) on October 23, according to the chairman of Nepal Mountain Running Service Ramesh Bhattachan, who has been sponsoring for Kulung since 2010.

Before his foreign trip, he will be competing in the Annapurna Marathon on June 3. Earlier this month, Kulung had won a 260 km Annapurna Mandela Trail with a timing of 32 hours 52 minutes over a span of eight days. He had also clinched the title of Annapurna 100k on January 1 this year.

The young athlete however plans to retire after a few years and move abroad or start some business because he believes that the career of athletes is short-lived.
“I have to win races for my income as well as my career as an athlete and that cannot go on forever. I must look for a secured future,” he says.

Meanwhile, defending champion Phurba Tamang reportedly fell ill and finished the marathon in 5 hours 33 minutes 8 seconds.

The top three winners in the men´s category bagged a purse of Rs 80,000, Rs 40,000 and Rs 25,000 while the prize for the women´s category was Rs 40,000, Rs 25,000 and Rs 16,000 respectively.

Zaskowiee creates new record

In the foreign category, Sylvia Zaskowiee became the first woman to win the title and create a new record in the Everest Marathon. The cross-country skier from Poland finished the marathon in 5 hours 34 minutes 6 seconds.

“It´s the best day in my life. It´s incredible because I didn´t expect it. It´s a big surprise,” she said after winning the title.

A participant of the Vancouver Winter Olympics 2010, Zaskowiee switched to marathon after she broke her left arm last summer.

“I decided to join marathon during my one-year break after the skiing accident. It was a big disappointment for me,” she said.

“Maybe I can start marathon now,” she said. “The atmosphere was amazing. There were lots of great runners and I would like to congratulate the Sherpa girls,” she added.

Meanwhile, Christopher Suggit finished second with a timing of 6 hours 13 minutes 42 seconds. Tomaz Kulinski clocked 6 hours 18 minutes 48 seconds to claim the third position.

Half Marathon

Raju Sindhu of the Indian Air Force claimed the title of the half-marathon with a timing of 2 hours 44 minutes 15 seconds. The serviceman who scaled Mount Everest on May 21 said it was his maiden half-marathon.

“I would like to give the total credit to my group captain Narender Kumar Dhuia for his inspiration,” he said.

Sekhar Gayathri finished second with a timing of 3 hours 17 minutes 7 seconds while Lynne Low claimed the third position clocking 3 hours 50 minutes 3 seconds.
The top three winners in both foreign and half-marathon´ categories bagged a purse of Rs 35,000, Rs 21,000 and 14,000.

The Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (Nefin) organised banda on May 13, while Chhetri Samaj Nepal called a two-day banda in the Kathmandu Valley on May 22-23.

Rally Against Bandas

The private sector on Sunday established a trust fund worth Rs 1 million which will be used to create awareness against bandas through rallies and mass meetings. On Sunday too, the private sector organised a motorcycle rally defying the banda called by Chettri Samaj. Earlier, tourism entrepreneurs had also confronted Nefin’s banda.

The trust fund has been set up jointly by the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), Nepal Chamber of Commerce, Nepal Tourism Board and Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents (NATTA).

According to business community, the rationale behind setting up the fund is to make public aware about the repercussions of bandas on economy and daily life. “It is not fair to trouble others to push your agenda,” said FNCCI President Suraj Vaidya. FNCCI has contributed Rs 100,000 to the fund. The alliance is open to public and anyone can be its part.

“The major aim of Nepal Tourism Year-2011is to regain Nepal’s lost glory, but frequent bandas have once again hurt the tourism sector,” said Arjun Sharma president of NATTA.

His dream was of imposing height — to scale the highest mountain in the world and set a new world record by becoming the oldest man on the top of Mt Everest. But fate had something else in store for him.

Welcome NTY-2011

The Nepal Tourism Year (NTY)-2011 is being officially marked with fanfare across the country on Friday. Nepal has charted out a plan to bring in a million tourists during the tourism year.

President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav will formally launch the Nepal Tourism Year-2011 at Dashrath Stadium amid a gala event on Friday.
On the occasion, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation Sharat Singh Bhandari including dignitaries and members of general public will attend the function.

Nepal Police, Armed Police Force, Nepal Army and school students will exhibit various performances in the five-and-a-half-hour inauguration programme.
The government has decided to give a public holiday today to all the educational institutions across the country on the official launch of the tourism year.

As a part of the tourism promotional plans the Nepal government has declared 2011 as year of tourism to achieve the aim it has chalked out plans to welcome one million foreign tourists during the year.
The Vice-president, Prime Minister, Constituent Assembly Chairman, United Nation World Tourism Organisation Secretary General and tourism ministers of SAARC Countries are scheduled to attend the programme.
According to Nepal Tourism Board, more than 25,000 guests will attend the function. An air show of motor paragliding will be performed by 21 pilots.
A separate event will be conducted at Tundikhel for general public. In the evening, there will be a firework display at Tundikhel.
Nepal tourism board has a target of welcoming one million visitors during the year to make tourism safe and economical we have introduced a new concept of Home Stay by which the tourist can feel Nepal in a better way.
The erstwhile government had decided to mark 2011 as the tourism year. Earlier, Nepal had organized tourism year in 1998 to promote tourism.

Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP), local bodies and tourism entrepreneurs have brought the trekking route from Chhyo Deurali to Muktinath into use after tourism environment in other trekking routes in Myagdi, Parbat and Mustang districts were disturbed by construction of rural roads.

The new trekking route reaches Muktinath from Chhyo Deurali through Taklung, Titital, Kokhepani, Chheira, Marphapari, Dhumbatal, Jomsom, Luprakhola.

Similarly, another trekking route from Tatopani to Ghansa in Myagdi district has also been brought into operation.

Places of religious and historical importance, Himalayan ranges, lakes, wildlife, birds, forests and human settlements are the attraction of the new trekking route.