Burma American Tourist Dies After Falling From Bagan Pagoda

Shwesandaw Pagoda in Bagan. / Reuters

A foreign tourist died after falling from the top of a pagoda in the ancient city of Bagan on Tuesday evening, confirmed the Nyaung-U police station.

The US citizen injured her head and died while being transferred from Nyaung-U hospital to Mandalay Hospital, said U Aung Aung Kyaw, director of the Department of Archaeology, National Museum and Library (Bagan Branch).

“We’ve put notices in more than 20 places not to climb on pagodas. I heard that she fell while she was taking pictures. That pagoda was prohibited for climbing,” U Aung Aung Kyaw told The Irrawaddy.

The victim, whose age is not yet known, was lodging at Thiripyitsaya Hotel, and a small stupa near the pagoda was damaged as she fell.

Since last month, climbing has been prohibited on Shwesandaw Pagoda, one of the most popular sunset-viewing pagodas in Bagan after lower terraces collapsed due to rains.

Previously, five temples were open to visitors to view the sunset in Bagan, but after hundreds of pagodas were damaged by a powerful 6.8 magnitude earthquake in August last year, authorities have banned climbing at most of the sites for safety reasons.

Following the earthquake, the government constructed three sunset-viewing decks in order to discourage visitors from climbing the pagodas, said U Aung Aung Kyaw.