26 tourists from Maharashtra killed in Tanahun district of Nepal: Government

Mumbai: In a mammoth tragedy, at least 26 tourists hailing from Maharashtra were killed and another 14 injured, some seriously, when a bus plunged into a gorge of the Marsyangdi river in Ambukhereni area of Tanahun district of Nepal on Friday, state government officials here said.

The bus with 40 Indian passengers, mostly from Maharashtra’s Jalgaon district, was plying from the mountainous tourist resort of Pokhara to the Nepal capital Kathmandu when it fell 150-feet into a river valley.

Maharashtra State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) Director Lahu Mali said that the bodies of the victims and the injured persons will enter India from Maharajganj district of the Uttar Pradesh-Nepal border on Saturday afternoon.

From there they will be taken to Gorakhpur Airport by road, a distance of around 4 hours, and arrangements are being made for the onward journey to Nashik Airport, and then by road to Jalgaon.

Since it is not possible to transport so many bodies and injured persons in a commercial flight, the Maharashtra government has written to the Indian Air Force (IAF) to arrange for a special flight.

The special flight is likely to fly from Gorakhpur to Nashik – the nearest airport to Jalgaon – and the state government will bear all the expenses for the same.

Earlier on Friday, Deputy Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that “some devotees from Maharashtra” were killed in the bus tragedy and several others were injured.

There were around 41 passengers, all hailing from Bhusaval, Talvel and Varangaon towns in Jalgaon, in the ill-fated bus, of which 26 have been confirmed as killed in the accident and around 14 others injured. (IANS)

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