We’ve been reporting pretty regularly about the opening of the world’s highest railroad–the Golmud to Lhasa line which climbs 16,000 feet on its way to Tibet–and now we’ve got some bad news.
Despite some clever engineering to protect passengers from the thin air, the first fatality has already been reported only two months after service began. A 75-year-old tourist from Hong Kong was hit with altitude sickness and died on the return trip.
He did, however, golf with the Dalai Lama while in Lhasa and was promised total consciousness on his deathbed. So he had that goin’ for him, which was nice.