14 people killed, 16 injured as Indian-registered bus plunges into Marsyangdi river in Nepal
KATHMANDU, AUG 23 : At least 14 people were killed and 16 others injured after an Indian tourist bus veered off the highway and fell 150 metres into the fast-flowing Marsyangdi River in central Nepal on Friday, authorities said.
The bus from Gorakhpur was heading towards the capital, Kathmandu, from the resort town of Pokhara when it drove off the highway in Aaina Pahara in the Tanahun district.
There were 43 people, including the driver and the co-driver, in the bus with the registration number UP 53 FT 7623.
“An Indian tourist bus travelling from Pokhara to Kathmandu with around 43 Indians fell 150 metres into the Marshyandi River today,” the Embassy of India said in a post on X.
The mission is coordinating with local authorities undertaking relief and rescue.
According to Deputy Superintendent of Police of the Armed Police Force (APF), Shailendra Thapa, 14 bodies were retrieved from the crash site, and 16 injured were rushed to a local hospital. The bus that fell on the river bank has been badly damaged.
An MI-17 helicopter of the Nepal Army has left for the accident site at Anbu Khaireni in Tanahun district with a medical team for the rescue operation, the MyRepublica news portal reported.
The Gandaki Province Police Office, Pokhara, said 15 of those rescued can speak.
Information Officer at the District Police Office, Tanahu, Mohan Bahadur Khan, said 29 people have been sent to the hospital so far. The condition of those rescued passengers has not been disclosed yet.
A team of 45 Armed Police Force personnel led by Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Madhav Paudel from the Armed Police Force Nepal Disaster Management Training School has already reached the accident site and is carrying out the rescue operation, MyRepublic.com reported.
About 35 APF personnel from No. 23 Battalion, Bhanu, Tanahun, are also involved in the rescue operation, the report said.
According to DSP Dipak Kumar Raya, spokesperson of the District Police Office, Tanahun, the bus fell into Marsyangdi at around 11.30 am on Friday.
Nepal’s rivers are generally fast-flowing due to the mountainous terrain.
Heavy monsoon downpours in the past few days have swollen the waterways and turned them murky brown, making it even more difficult to see the wreckage.
Monsoon season brings heavy rains to Nepal from June to September, often triggering landslides in the mountainous Himalayan country.
Last month, two buses carrying 65 passengers were washed away by a landslide into the swollen Trishuli River in Nepal.
The bodies from the two buses were washed away down the Trishuli River, as far as 100 kilometres.
Extensive search operations, including the deployment of a 12-member team from India’s National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), have not yet located the two missing buses and many passengers swept away by the landslide.
The bodies of five Indian nationals have been recovered so far, while two are still missing.
-The New Indian Express
