Kohima, Dec 8 2024-
A 67-year-old tourist from the U.K., who attended the Hornbill Festival in Naga heritage village Kisama, died of a heart attack, police said on Sunday.
Sub-Divisional Police Officer, Kohima, Sheta Lohe said that sexagenarian Nigel Richard from Bradford, U.K., breathed his last at a private hospital in Kohima on Saturday night.
According to the police officer, Richard had complained of severe chest pain on Saturday evening while waiting for a bus at Kisama Heritage Village, the central venue of the 10-day-long Hornbill festival.
He was immediately taken to a health camp set up at the festival venue and provided first aid before being shifted to a private hospital in Kohima, 12 km from Kisama.
However, the tourist breathed his last later on Saturday night following which a post-mortem examination was conducted, the police officer said.
The police officer said that the autopsy report revealed that Richard had died of a severe heart attack.
A brief send-off service was conducted at North Police Station in Kohima on Sunday.
An official of Nagaland’s Tourism and Art and Culture department, which has been organising the Hornbill Festival, said that all necessary arrangements were made by the department to send the body back to his home.
Over 1.30 lakh people, including 2,100 foreigners and around 31,000 tourists from various states of India have attended till the 8th day of the festival on Sunday.
In the ongoing silver jubilee edition of the Hornbill Festival, Japan, the U.S., the U.K. (Wales), Peru and Bulgaria were the country partners while Sikkim and Telangana were the partner states.
Besides daily performances of a large number of cultural troupes from all the eight northeastern states, other highlights of the iconic Hornbill Festival include sales of local products, handloom and handicrafts, artworks, horticulture, traditional stone pulling ceremony, film festival, photo fest, heritage walk, kids’ carnival, International Hornbill Naga Wrestling, indigenous games and sports festival etc.
Local cuisine, food festival, Naga King chilli and pineapple eating competitions, World War-II rally, adventure outdoor activities, mountain biking, Dzukou Valley Day Hikes, Bamboo Carnival, and Night Carnival were the other important attractions of the annual gala celebration, which began on December 1. (Agency)
