Kathmandu: At least 19 passengers, including foreign nationals, lost their lives and dozens were injured after the bus they were travelling on drove off a mountain highway in Nepal, early on Monday.
The bus was on its way from the resort city of Pokhara to Kathmandu when it fell into a gorge along the Prithvi Highway after midnight, the police told Associated Press (AP).
It has been reported that the bus rolled down a mountain slope and landed on the banks of Trishuli river near Benighat, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) west of Kathmandu. Most passengers were asleep when the accident occurred.
Visuals from the site showed the mangled remains of the bus surrounded by first responders.
Among those killed was a 24-year-old British national, AP reported, citing a statement from the Dhading district police office. Till 1 pm, only nine bodie
s had been identified, as reported by Hindustan Times.
A Chinese national, who was injured, has been admitted to the National Trauma Center in Kathmandu. A 27-year-old woman from New Zealand also suffered minor injuries and is being treated at a local hospital.
One other Chinese national is missing, China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported, citing the Chinese Embassy in Nepal.
While the exact cause of the accident was not immediately known, incidents such as these are not uncommon along the narrow, mountainous roads in Nepal. The condition of the vehicles plying these routes have also been questioned.
A bus carrying a wedding party veered off a mountain road in west Nepal earlier this month and tumbled down a slope. The crash in a crash killed at least 13 people while 34 were injured.
The bus, with members of the wedding party, was on its way back home when the bus fell about 200 meters (650 feet), landing on flat ground near Budgaun village, about 500 kilometers (310 miles) west of Kathmandu.
Two buses, with 65 people on board, fell into the Trishuli river and were lost in 2024. Most passengers inside were either killed or are still missing. The wreckage of one of the buses was dug out from the sand only this year.