Meghalaya authorities in touch with Hungarian Embassy to hand over tourist's body

Shillong, April 11 (IANS) Authorities in Meghalaya are now in touch with the Hungarian Embassy in Delhi to hand over the body of the tourist, whose body was found in a forest in the state’s East Khasi Hills district, police said on Friday.

East Khasi Hills district’s Superintendent of Police, Vivek Syiem, said that they are in touch with the Hungarian embassy in Delhi to hand over the body of the tourist identified as Zsolt Puskas.

"Post-mortem examination of the body of the tourist has been done. Now we are waiting for the confirmation from the Hungarian embassy in Delhi to hand over the body either to the officials of the embassy or the family members of the deceased," Syiem told IANS.

Another police official said that the decomposed body of the Hungarian tourist, who had been missing since March 29, was recovered from a forest at Ramdait village in East Khasi Hills on Thursday.

Puskas checked into a hotel in Shillong on March 29, and, later on the same day, left the hotel and hired a taxi that dropped him at Mawsahew, near Sohra, as he reportedly tried to trek through the famous double-decker natural root bridge at Nongriat, 20 km south of Sohra town.

The Hungarian Embassy earlier lodged a missing complaint on March 29, and an FIR was registered four days later, following which the massive search operation was launched by the police along with local villagers and members of social organisations.

Police and the villagers suspected that he could have fallen from the hilltop, leading to his death, as the body was found on a steep slope.

A forensic team has visited the site and an in-depth probe is now on into the matter.

Meanwhile, last week, German Ambassador to India Philipp Ackermann visited the living root bridges in East Khasi Hills. In a post on social media, the envoy said that it was interesting to talk to the local Khasi community people who have the skill to build these root bridges and how to work with the roots.

The living root bridges are one of Meghalaya’s most beautiful tangible heritage sites. These sites have recently been added to the tentative UNESCO World Heritage site list. These bridges have been built for centuries by the indigenous people of the land (Khasis and the Jaintias), and have also been used by these people to cross the overflowing rivers during the monsoon season.

--IANS

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