Nepalese man dies after downing whisky for bet

KATHMANDU, Nepal—A 47-year-old man in Nepal who downed a bottle of whisky after a bet with a friend has died from medical complications three weeks after the drinking challenge, officials said Thursday.

Pancharam Bishwokarma, owner of a gold shop in the town of Gopetar 300 kilometers (186 miles) east of Kathmandu, agreed to drain a 750-milliliter bottle of Royal Stag on January 16 if his friend paid the bill.

“Bishwokarma then left for home that afternoon. But by 8 pm, he was vomiting. He could not sleep and was rushed to a local hospital,” said local police officer Sanjeev Khadka.

The doctors at the district hospital referred him to another hospital in a town in the southern plains. From there, he was again moved to a hospital in Siliguri, a town in the Indian state of West Bengal.

“He was unconscious when he was brought here,” Pashupati Chaudhary, a doctor at the second hospital, B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Science in Dharan, told AFP.

“We found that he had consumed the concentrated alcohol, which was 42 percent, without any food, finishing it in five minutes. It damaged his vital organs,” Chaudhary said.

Police are checking to see if the whisky, priced at 700 Nepali rupees ($7), could have been adulterated.