Ghaziabad woman dies in Kathmandu trying to escape hotel fire

Maharajganj (UP), Sep 12 (PTI) She tried to escape the burning Kathmandu hotel by lowering herself from the fourth floor with the help of a curtain -- and her husband's helping hands. But it was never to be.

Rajesh Devi Gola slipped and fell to her death, the long planned pilgrimage to Pashupatinath temple in the Nepal capital gone horribly wrong for the couple from Ghaziabad. The 55-year-old is the only Indian among the 51 killed in the violent Gen Z protests that raged across Nepal this week.

Two days after the tragedy struck, her husband Ramveer Singh Saini was at Sonauli border in the state's Maharajganj district on Thursday. His wife's body was brought from Nepal to the border town in Uttar Pradesh in an ambulance and he was waiting to take it home.

The grieving husband recalled their desperate bid to flee the luxury hotel they had checked into on September 7. The following day, they went to offer prayers at the famed Pashupatinath temple.

And on September 9, the couple decided to go for sightseeing and realised that the unrest had intensified. That's when they decided to leave and head for the airport only to find it closed.

"When we checked out on September 9, there was a curfew. The airport was closed. Then we increased our stay at the hotel for a day," Ramveer Singh told reporters.

But the hotel was far from the refuge they were hoping it would be.

Enraged anti-government protesters set it afire -- while the Golas and presumably others were inside.

Ramveer said he managed to jump out of the room's window and narrowly survived but his wife slipped from a curtain he was using to lower her down. She was rushed to a hospital for treatment but died on the way due to excessive bleeding.

"We tried to save our lives by jumping, during which my wife was injured. She was admitted to a hospital for treatment where she died on September 9," he said.

"My cousin has died in Nepal violence," said Tilakaram, a relative of Rajesh, his matter of fact tone underscoring the magnitude of the tragedy that had befallen the family.

On the day that Rajesh died, Nepal's Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli quit, shortly after hundreds of agitators entered his office demanding his resignation over the deaths during the protest on Monday.

The violence continued even after Oli's resignation, with protesters setting fire to the Parliament, the President's Office, the PM's residence, government buildings, political parties' offices and homes of senior leaders.

Nearly 1,700 people sustained injuries during the protests. Of them, around 1,000 have returned home after recovery, police said.

According to Senior Superintendent of Police Ramesh Thapa, who is co-spokesperson for Nepal police, the 51 people killed in the protests against corruption and a ban on social media sites include one Indian national, three policemen and other Nepali citizens, The Kathmandu Post newspaper reported. PTI COR NAV MAN OZ MIN MIN