On September 29, Nepal was celebrating Phulpati, the seventh day of Bada Dashain, with munch enthusiasm, even among the diaspora. However, the great festival did not spare the Nepalis in Romania.
On this day, a tragedy struck the Nepali community in Romania when a fire at Hotel Daly in Tătarani, Prahova, Bucharest, claimed the lives of two young Nepali women. The Nepali diaspora was stunned.
The deceased were identified as 21-year-old Sony Limbu from Mai Municipality-7, Ilam, and 24-year-old Susmita Tamang from Dakshinkali Municipality-9, Kathmandu. Sony had arrived in Romania for employment a year ago and Susmita just five months ago. Sumina Magar, from Chulachuli Rural Municipality-3, Ilam, was also injured in the fire. She has since been discharged from the hospital after treatment, with her condition now stable, despite suffering burns on her face and other parts of her body.
Sumina, who arrived six months ago, was saved because she was on duty. Along with Sony and Susmita, she and two men—Narayan BK from Beni, Myagdi, and Buddhi Paudel from Chitwan—worked as cleaners at Hotel Daly. The women slept on the top floor of the four-story hotel, while the men's rooms were in an attached outer building. They had shared dinner the night before and gone to sleep around 9 pm. Sumina started her ground-floor cleaning duty at am. Around 7 am, she heard an uproar and saw flames erupting from the top floor.
"Sumina, look, there's a fire upstairs," Sony's frantic voice came over the phone. Sumina immediately advised her to come down quickly and informed the hotel owner’s wife. Driven by fear and a desire to save her friends, Sumina rushed upstairs. Upon reaching the top floor, her slippers stuck to the burnt carpet. Visibility was zero due to thick smoke. A large burst of flame struck her face and body, causing her to fall down the stairs. Firefighters retrieved her, placing her in a police vehicle. She was safe, but her two friends, who were sleeping in the same room just hours before, perished in the fire.
The incident feels like a nightmare to Sumina. She expressed her pain, stating that her duty saved her life, otherwise, she might have also perished together with her colleagues. Sumina suspects the fire may have been caused by a short circuit while "fire alarm" related work was being carried out at the hotel. Reports suggest the hotel had previously been closed by authorities for failing to meet fire safety standards.
Besides claiming two lives, the fire destroyed all of Sumina’s documents, including her passport. Unable to travel to the nearest embassy in Berlin, Germany (about 2,000 km away), and with her face scarred, the Nepali Embassy in Berlin (which also covers Romania) initiated the process to issue her a new passport.
The bodies of Sony Limbu and Susmita Tamang were repatriated to Nepal on October 19 and subsequently cremated. Susmita’s brother and Sony’s father expressed their profound grief and thanked the media for their support in the repatriation process. They urged the embassy and the Nepali community in Romania to investigate the incident and arrange for relief. Narayan BK, a co-worker at the hotel for five years, confirmed that the bodies were severely burned and that Sony's locket helped in identification. He also appealed to the embassy to provide relief and support to the families of the deceased.
About 30,000 Nepali migrants are staying in Romania, which lacks a Nepali diplomatic mission.
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