At least 27 Indian pilgrims die as tourist bus plunges into river in Nepal

PTI, Kathmandu, Aug 23, 2024 :  At least 27 Indian pilgrims who arrived in Nepal from Maharashtra for a 10-day tour were killed and 16 others injured after a tourist bus veered off the highway and fell into fast-flowing Marsyangdi river in central Nepal on Friday, police said.

The incident occurred at Anbookhaireni area in Chitawan district when the bus from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh carrying 43 passengers, including the driver and two helpers, was heading towards Kathmandu from Pokhara.

While 16 people died on the spot, 11 succumbed to their injuries while undergoing treatment, Deputy Spokesperson of Armed Police Force (APF) Shailendra Thapa told PTI.

Sixteen people who sustained injuries have been airlifted to Kathmandu and admitted at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, he said.

The passengers onboard the bus were part of a group of 104 Indian pilgrims who arrived in Nepal from Maharashtra in three buses two days ago for a 10-day tour of the Himalayan nation, MyRepublica news portal reported. 

The dead bodies will be handed over to their family members after the postmortem, Thapa said, adding that the postmortem will be conducted on Saturday at Western Regional Health Science Academy in Pokhara. 

The bus with an Uttar Pradesh number plate that fell around 150 meters down the hilly road is still lying on the bank of the Marsyangdi River and will be lifted with the help of a crane on Saturday, he said. Thapa said 250 security personnel, including from the Nepal Army, Armed Police Force, and Nepal Police, were mobilized for rescue works. Twin rope was used to conduct the rescue operation as the accident site lies in a deep and narrow gorge near the Marsyangdi River, he said.

The reason for the accident is not yet known. The bus was traveling on the national highway some 90 km west of Kathmandu. According to a report on the MyRepublica news portal, the passengers onboard the bus were part of a group of 104 Indian pilgrims who arrived in Nepal from Maharashtra in three buses two days ago for a 10-day tour of the Himalayan nation. They came from Bhusal village in Jalgaon district. After visiting Pokhara for two days, all three buses left for the capital, Kathmandu, on Friday morning. Madhav Pad Paudel, chief of the Armed Police Force (APF), Kurintar, said that most of the passengers traveling in these three buses were families and relatives.

A list of names of the 43 passengers who were in the ill-fated bus has been released. "An Indian tourist bus traveling from Pokhara to Kathmandu with around 43 Indians fell 150 meters into the Marsyangdi River today," the Embassy of India said in a post on X. The mission is coordinating with local authorities undertaking relief and rescue. The bus that fell on the riverbank was badly damaged. An MI 17 helicopter of the Nepal Army was deployed to transport injured passengers from the accident site at Anbu Khaireni in Tanahun district with a medical team for the rescue operation, MyRepublica reported.