Two passenger buses were carried away by a landslide into the rain-swollen Trishuli River near Simaltal along the Narayanghat-Mugling Highway section in Nepal, leaving at least 54 people missing. The incident happened on July 12 at around 3:30 am local time.
Officials had initially estimated that there were around 60 people on board. However, once passenger details were gathered from bus operators, the number of missing passengers was reduced to 54, including seven Indians.
As per recent information, one dead body of an Indian has been recovered.
According to Chitwan Chief District Officer Indradev Yadav, the Kathmandu-bound Angel Deluxe and Ganpati Deluxe met with an accident on their way to Gaur from Kathmandu at 3:30 am.
The early investigations have revealed that 24 people were on board the Angel Deluxe bus traveling to Kathmandu. including seven Indians and three bus crew members. By July 12 evening, details of about 17 people had been established.
The Deputy Superintendent of Police Bhesh Raj Rijal has said the Ganapati Deluxe Bus was anticipated to carry 41 passengers, but only 17 of them had been identified. Three people on the Gaur-bound bus survived by jumping off the vehicle.
Rescue teams from the Nepal Army and Armed Police Force, along with some divers, began a search operation at 8 am on July 12, which was suspended at 7 pm and scheduled to resume on July 13.
"We will resume the search tomorrow morning," said Khimananda Bhusal, the Deputy Administrator of Chitwan, on the evening of July 12.
Twelve divers have been mobilized from the Disaster Management Training Institute in Kurintar. "A crew of 70 trained in water-related disasters has been deployed to the incident site. Of them, 12 are divers," said Janak Puri, Superintendent of Police.
Lieutenant Colonel Dinesh Lama said, "The Nepal Army rescue team has 55 members. Twenty of them, including five divers, were assigned to search by boat."
A Nepal Police team has also been deployed to the location of the incident. While the army and Armed Police Force (APF) soldiers are combing the river, the Nepal Police team is making other arrangements outside the river.
The search and rescue operation began in the morning of July 12 and turned into a search for bodies in the evening. "Search and rescue has now turned into a search option for bodies," a Nepal Army official told Education Post.
The wreckage of one bus has been discovered. The search for the second bus and the missing bodies in the Trishuli River continues.
Meanwhile, rescuers discovered many items, including a child's clothes and a bus window curtain. Based on these items, they believe they have located the Angel Deluxe Bus.
"The exact number of passengers who died in the two passenger buses is still being defined," said Dijan Bhattarai, an information official at the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The Nepal Police, Armed Police Force, and Nepal Army officers who were assigned to rescue the passengers worked tirelessly all day to locate the buses and survivors, but their efforts were impeded by the rising water and constant rain.
Road department officials had shut down the Narayanghat-Kathmandu road for 15 days due to the possibility of landslides induced by severe rainfall. Despite this, traffic has been restored.
Out of seven, the six Indian passengers have been identified as Santosh Thakur, Surendra Sah, Adit Miyaan, Sunil, Shahnawaj Alam, and Ansari. one is yet to be identified.
Jugeshwar Raya Yadav, Nandan Das, and Saroj Gupta, all from Rautahat district, survived. Gupta was discharged after treatment, whereas Yadav and Das are being treated at Chitwan Medical College in Bharatpur.
Jugeshwar was returning from Kathmandu after the treatment of his son and daughter. "I was on the bus along with my 10-year-old son, my daughter, and two grandchildren. Now I am here at the hospital, but all of them were trapped inside the bus," Jugeshwar said.
According to him, the driver had stopped the bus at Simaltal due to a landslide. "Later, the bus crew decided to push ahead, thinking that the landslide had stopped," he said.
The Prime Minister of Nepal, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, expressed grief at the accident and urged all government agencies, including the home administration, to search for and rescue the passengers.
"I am deeply saddened by the news of nearly five dozen passengers missing after a landslide swept away buses in Simaltar of the Narayanghat-Mugling road section and the loss caused by the disaster in different parts of the country," Dahal posted to X.
A Nepal Police bulletin on July 12 stated that rain-related incidents have caused 3,547 families to be relocated and 103 people to lose their lives nationwide since June 10.
In the wake of the two bus accidents, the government also declared that night bus operations in areas with inadequate weather forecasting facilities would be prohibited.
The Meteorological Forecasting Division (MFD) of the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology had issued a warning of very high rainfall in certain areas of the provinces of Koshi, Madhesh, Bagmati, Gandaki, and Lumbini.
The MFD reported that Chitwan received 133 mm of rain, Bhairahawa received 157.9 mm of rainfall, Pokhara received 102.3 mm, and Udayapur witnessed 104 mm.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority predicts that 1.81 million people and 412,000 houses will be affected by the monsoon this year. Monsoon-related disasters in Nepal will have a direct impact on 83,000 homes, with 18,000 families seeking rescue.
Rohit Wadhwaney in Kathmandu contributed to the story.
