:j= sf]O/fnfsf] kfly{j z/L/df bfuaQL lbFb} g]kfnL sfFu|];sf ;efklt Pjd k"j{ k|wfgdGqL ;'zLn sf]O/fnfsf] kfly{j z/L/df pxfFsf] elthfåo ct'n sf]O/fnf / ;'wf+z' sf]O/fnfn] bfuaQL lbFb} . tl:a/ k|bLk jGt, /f;; Koirala's nephews Sashank Koirala and Atul Koirala performed the last ceremonial rites. Photo: RSS

Former Prime Minister Sushil Koirala was cremated with state honours at Pashupati Aryaghat on Wednesday.

As Koirala's nephews Sashank Koirala and Atul Koirala performed the last ceremonial rites, the national anthem was played. The body was taken to the aryaghat after a long funeral procession at Dasarath Stadium, where thousands of Nepalis thronged to pay their last respects to the late septuagenarian leader.

The Nepali Congress, led by Koirala until his death, had decided to cremate its President's body in the recently-inaugurated electoral crematorium. But his family preferred to go the traditional way.

Koirala had passed away at 12:50 am Tuesday, according to his personal physician Dr Karbir Nath Yogi.

Koirala, 76, was down with pneumonia and fever over the last few days. But his health condition was not considered ‘worrisome’, and he also was in good spirits as he ate a bowl of rice gruel before going to bed Monday night. He suddenly began coughing and then lost consciousness at midnight. Dr Yogi called for an ambulance, but the septuagenarian leader had died before the ambulance arrived.