Nepal, July 20 -- Ten years after the federal government announced to replace perilous improvised river cable crossings locally known as 'tuins' with suspension footbridges, people in Karnali and Sudurpaschim provinces continue to risk their lives dangling from cables.

The promise was first made in 2015 during the first stint of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, who pledged to replace all tuins with suspension bridges within two years. A decade later, the reality on the ground remains grim: dozens of settlements across Darchula, Jajarkot, Humla, Salyan among other districts are still forced to rely on these hazardous crossings.

In Darchula, the recent tragedy in which Narayan Singh Budhathoki, 28, went missing after falling from a tuin into...