Fatalities and illnesses plague yarsagumba gold rush

Karnali province police report 12 yarsagumba collectors—six from Mugu and six from Dolpa—died this year, with nearly 100 more sick due to altitude sickness.

Jamuna Bista, a 22-year-old woman from Bistagaun in ward 4 of Athbiskot Municipality in Rukum West, set out for Dolpa to collect yarsagumba (cordyceps) in the second week of May. But she died of altitude sickness in Lainidanda in Kaike Rural Municipality in Dolpa on Monday before reaching the highland area.