At least 18 people have been killed and dozens more injured as a passenger bus spun off the Prithvi Highway and dropped into the Trishuli River in Nepal’s Dhading district in early today. The deadly accident happened around 1:30 AM, next to Chinadhara, in Benighat Rorang Rural Municipality, approximately 90 kilometers west of Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal.
A Nighttime Accident on the Prithvi Highway
The Prithvi Rajmarg Bus Sanchalak Company bus was travelling from the popular tourist city of Pokhara to Kathmandu when the driver lost control. The vehicle veered off the road, tumbled down a steep embankment nearly 300 meters and was submerged in the fast-flowing waters of the Trishuli River, local authorities said.
The District Traffic Police Office in Dhading reported that 18 bodies have been recovered from the area so far. Among the dead are 11 men and seven women, including the bus owner, Om Kumar Shrestha. Sadly, a man from New Zealand is also in the list of the dead. According to officials, the bus was already carrying at least 44 passengers at the accident as more passengers may have boarded along the way.
Heroic Rescue Operations in Toughest Weather
Just after the accident, a large rescue operation of the Nepal Army, Armed Police Force (APF), and Nepal Police with local residents was initiated. Rescue operations were severely impeded by the darkness of the first few hours of this morning, the treacherous banks and the freezing water. Divers from the Armed Police Force were dispatched to the submerged wreckage, searching it for survivors and trapped bodies.
At least 26 passengers were rescued from the debris and hastily whisked to nearby medical facilities. Because of serious injuries, 24 of the remaining passengers were later airlifted or brought away by ambulance to specialized hospitals in Kathmandu for treatment. Injured were two foreign nationals a woman from Japan and a woman from the Netherlands.
Increasing Worries About Road Safety
The exact cause of the accident remains open, but early police reports said speeding along the rugged mountain road was likely a contributing factor. The Prithvi Highway is one of the busiest and deadliest stretches of roads in Nepal, frequently hit with landslides and sharp twists.
This tragedy shows how road safety is a continuous crisis in Nepal. As of recent numbers, incidents related to traffic are on the rise: more than 7,600 accidents were recorded during the fiscal year alone. Poorly maintained vehicles, narrow roads, the absence of thorough-going traffic enforcement are the main drivers of these repeated disasters in this country, experts say.
The government is underlined by fresh demands to take urgent safety reforms to avoid more deaths on Nepal’s punishing roads as the country wails for the dead in the Dhading crash.
