May 4: Search operation is underway to find the whereabouts of two people who have been missing in an avalanche that took place at Chhangru of Byas municipality-1 in Darchula on Tuesday afternoon.    
The condition of Ishwari Thapa, 28, and Chhimi Somo Thapa, 15, from Doti is still unknown. They went missing along with other three during the avalanche that occurred on May 2.    
An Armed Police Force (APF) team has been mobilised to search for the missing. The avalanche on Tuesday afternoon buried tents being occupied by groups of people temporary residing there to collect Yarsagumba, a prized herb found in the high Himalayas.    
 Chief of Chhangru-based APF Number 50 Company Deputy Superintendent of Police, Ishwari Dutt Bhatta, said three bodies were retrieved from the avalanche-hit area on Wednesday while two women, who are relatives, are still missing.    

It may be noted that the bodies of Kamala Kunwar, 36 of Duhun Rural Municipality-4 and her son Praveen Kunwar, 18, and Nakki Doma Thapa, 45, of Doti were retrieved by a security team on May 3.    
People from within and outside the district trek to the highlands of Darchula to pick up Yarsa each year.   

Elsewhere, a yarsa collector died and another one went missing in the mountainous area of Bajhang district.
Prabhu Bohara of around 45 year from Surma Rural Municipality-4 was frozen to death during a blizzard while returning home after collecting yarsagumba on Tuesday, said Police Inspector Ramesh Awasthi.    
Bohara had gone to the Chuphi forest to collect the rare caterpillar fungus.    
Similarly, Jhalladevi Bohara, 33, of the same rural municipality went missing in an avalanche on Tuesday. Search for her is underway, Awasthi added. -- RSS