The Nepal Weekly 
February 18, 2025
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel and Mayor of the Pokhara Metropolitan City Dhanraj Acharya, who sustained burn injuries during inauguration a tourism programme have been airlifted to Kathmandu via Simrik Air helicopter for further treatment.
Both Finance Minister Paudel and Mayor Acharya received burns and injuries after a balloon, prepared for the inauguration of the Visit Nepal Year in Pokhara, burst. Paudel sustained injuries in his head and hand while Acharya sustained injury in the face by the splash of fire, according to Pun Lama, private secretary of Mayor Acharya.
Both off them were airlifted to the capital for further treatment around 3:00 PM, he told The Nepal Weekly. They were flown to Kathmandu after receiving first aid treatment in a local hospital in Pokhara. The incident occured when hydrogen filled balloons caught fire while igniting the candle at a function organized in the famous tourist hub of Western Nepal, Pokhara to inaugurate Pokhara Tourism Air aimed at attracting two million tourists in the year 2025. However, the conditions of both of them is said to be out of danger, said Lama.
The incident occurred when a set of balloons, with a banner celebrating the Visit Pokhara Year, burst during the opening ceremony in Pokhara, around 1: 15 PM on Saturday. According to the police both the injured were undergoing treatment at Kirtipur Burn Hospital. Meanwhile, Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli on Sunday visited the hospital to meet Paudel and Acharya who were undergoing treatment at the hospital.
