MAHENDRANAGAR/DADELDHURA, Dec 18: At least 16 passengers were killed and a dozen others injured, some of them seriously, when a bus they were traveling in veered off the road and fell 400 meters below at Basali of Shrikedar VDC in Baitadi at 7.30 pm on Saturday.
Some of the injured have been taken to Team Hospital in Dadeldhura while others are undergoing treatment at District Hospital in Baitadi. [break]
Among the injured, seven have sustained critical injuries and are sent to Team Hospital for treatment. Of them, one is reported to have succumbed to his injuries while on his way to the hospital. Though local authority has already confirmed sixteen dead, eye witnesses claim that at least 20 have died in the accident.
The bus had left Darchula district headquarters Khalanga for Mahendranagar with 37 passengers, but it is not clear how many passengers boarded the bus along the way.
Police said the bus was overcrowded when it met with the accident. Ramesh Thapa, the driver of a bus that was following the ill-fated bus, attributed the accident to over speeding.
Eyewitness Dammar Thagunna said most of the passengers, apart from those who died on the spot, have been injured. According to him, the speeding bus, bearing number plate Na 4 Kha 5943, veered off the road while taking a turn in a bend.
Another eyewitness Ganesh Bhatta, who was among those first locals to reach the accident site, said bodies were scattered all around and the injured were screaming, when he reached for rescue.
The body of Dan Singh Thapa of Bhimdatta Municipality in Baitadi, who was both driver and owner of the bus, has been identified.
Likewise, the identities of four other deceased, whose identities have been established so far and who all come from the same family, are Anil Ghimire, his wife Amrita, son Roshan, 28 and his grandson Rehan, 3 of Bidut Road, Dadeldhura.
The team comprising locals and police led by district police chief DSP Bishnu Bahadur Karki, which reached the site Saturday evening, has started rescue operation.
A medical team along with an ambulance has been sent to the site, informed Baitadi CDO Bhurtel. A child had been rescued the same evening.
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