Half of the passengers in a bus carrying 43 Indians died on Friday when the vehicle plunged into a rain-swollen river in neighbouring Nepal, a spokesperson for the Himalayan nation’s armed police said.
The bus was travelling from the tourist city of Pokhara to the capital Kathmandu when the accident happened around noon in the central district of Tanahun.
“Out of 43, in total 27 people have died,” Tanahun district official Janardan Gautam told AFP.
Rescuers struggled against the raging Marsyangdi River to pull passengers out of the water. Another 16 injured passengers were airlifted by military helicopter to Kathmandu for treatment.
Authorities said that all the people who boarded the bus were Indian citizens who had stayed in Pokhara the night before and were heading to Kathmandu.
“Among the dead, 26 bodies are currently in a local hospital and will be sent to Pokhara after all proceedings,” Gautam said. One person died while undergoing treatment in Bharatpur hospital. “We were focused on the rescue today, we will now investigate the incident,” Gautam added.
Police and army teams climbed down long metal ladders to reach the river, using ropes to pull out the injured and dead.
Exhausted women and children lay amid debris scattered on the banks of the fast-flowing river as rescuers hauled a nearly fainting child out of danger, video images showed.
India’s neighbouring state of Uttar Pradesh, where passengers had boarded the bus, is sending an official to coordinate rescue efforts, news agency ANI said.
Roads in the mountainous region can challenge drivers as they are often narrow and treacherous, making it tough to manoeuvre large vehicles around hairpin curves.
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