The victims have been identified as Surja Bahadur Saud of Jogbudha VDC-1, Nara Bahadur Bhandari of Jogbudha-4 and Ujale Damin and a person with Mahar surname of Shirsha VDC-7, police said, quoting locals. [break]
Rishiram Tiwari, Chief District Officer of Dadeldhura, said they might have lost their lives due to cold related disease. “We will confirm it only after investigation,” said Tiwari.
However, locals claim they lost their lives because of the lack of warm clothes.
Cold has crippled normal life in the district over the past few days. Most of the schools have remained closed since few days. Likewise, many children and elderly people have taken ill from different cold-related diseases in the district.
Meanwhile, an elderly succumbed to cold in Siraha district on Thursday. Raj Lal Mochi (70) of Lahan-1 breathed his last due to biting cold, informed police. With this, the number of people succumbing to cold wave in the district has reached 11.
However, only two of the 11 deceased have approached the local administration for compensation.
"This is because the victim´s family do not want to perform autopsy on the dead body, which is mandatory for compensation," informed Inspector Raj Kumar Sahi of District Police Office, Siraha.
The government has announced compensation of Rs 25,000 to the victim´s family.
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