42 feared dead in Nepal bus accident

NEPAL: Twelve bodies have been found and at least 30 people are still missing after a crowded bus plunged into a river from a mountainous road in southwestern Nepal, a police officer said Wednesday.

The bus swerved to avoid an oncoming car, skidded off the highway and plunged 100 metres (yards) into a deep river on Tuesday, said the police officer from Dhading district. “Twelve bodies have been recovered and the bus is still submerged in the river,” said the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “We have called for a crane to get the bus out.”

Passersby, local police officers and soldiers were able to pluck seven people from the Trishuli river but at least 30 others were swept away, he said. The seven injured were taken to hospital in Kathmandu. Around 50 people were on the bus when it plunged off the road, 70 kilometers (45 miles) southwest of the capital. The driver was among those killed.

The section of highway where the bus veered off the road is “notorious for deadly road accidents”, the Rising Nepal, a state-run English language daily, reported Wednesday.

Kathmandu, Wednesday, (AFP)