Nepal: Tragedy Strikes Again as Bus Plunges into Nepal's Marsyangdi River, Claims 14 Indian Lives

KATHMANDU: Nepal's roads have once more turned treacherous, with an Indian-registered bus en route to Kathmandu from Pokhara tumbling into the Marsyangdi river today, killing at least 14 Indian nationals in the accident. The bus, UP FT 7623 in plate number, was negotiating the serpentine roads of the Tanahun district, approximately 110 kilometers from its destination in Kathmandu, when it veered off course and plunged down below into the river.

Approximately 40 passengers, who had been in the bus, lay on terrain in a tragic heap, leading the apparatus to cruelly shorten the journey. This comes even as rescue operations are underway and officers are racing against time to locate and evacuate any possible survivors. Some passengers have sustained injuries and are admitted to the nearest medical centers. Though the exact cause of the accident has yet to be ascertained, officials suggest the tough conditions of roads as the reason for the accident.

"The bus just plunged into the river and is lying in the bank of the river," a senior police official informed media, painting a ghastly picture of the scene. Rescue efforts on the part of the authorities are ongoing as they extract bodies, and the injured are being given immediate assistance, though uncertainty regarding the number of dead prevails and the figure is expected to go up.

This is the second major tragedy to have struck Indian nationals in Nepal in the space of a month. Just last month, on July 12, a deadly landslide in Nepal's Chitwan district killed five Indians as two buses plunged into the Trishuli River. The landslide took place in the Simaltal area on the Narayanghat-Mugling road due to nearly a fortnight's continuous rain ending only days before. Only three of the over 65 passengers, who included seven Indians, managed to swim to safety, while the rest are feared drowned. The search for the remaining bodies was a grim job.

The confirmed death toll from the Narayani riverbanks has reached 25 up to now, with 103 km downstream from the incident site around the Triveni Dam area. The government confirmed that 19 of the dead had been counted as missing from the landslide. Rescue operations are under way, though the chances of any survivor are seen as slimming down by the day.

ALSO READ:

ALSO WATCH: