23 killed in road accidents

SUNSARI/SALYAN/TANAHUN, JAN 02 -
At least 23 people died and 42 others were injured in three separate road accidents in Sunsari, Salyan and Tanahun districts within the past 24 hours.

Nine persons died when a Scorpio SUV collided head-on with a truck at Bhantabari along the East-West Highway in Sunsari district on Wednesday night. The vehicle was returning to Siraha after attending a picnic in Ilam organised on New Year day.

The speeding jeep collided with the truck at around 8:45 pm and skidded metres away. There were 10 persons on the vehicle when the incident took place. One critically injured passenger is undergoing treatment in the district hospital, Inaruwa.

Gyan Kumar Sah, Sanjiv Sah, Birendra Sah, Santosh Nayak, Rajaram Sah, Mukesh Gupta and Rajendra Sah of Siraha were killed in the accident, police said. Two of the deceased are yet to be identified.

Police suspect high speed and drunk-driving could be the major reason of the fatal crash. The driver and the handyman of the truck are at large.

Similarly, eight persons died and 36 others were injured in a bus accident at Bajhakada-1 in Salyan district on Wednesday. Nineteen of the injured are reportedly in critical condition.  

The passenger bus veered off the road and plunged into Sharada stream some 100 metres below at around 4am, said police. The ill-fated vehicle (Lu 1 Kha 8290) was en route to Rukum from Kathmandu. Most of the victims are from Rukum. There were around 50 passengers on board when the incident occurred.

The deceased have been identified as Karuna Gharti of Chhiwang, Ananda Kumar KC, Prem Budha Magar and Sujan Shah of Khalanga, Man Bahadur Budha and three-year-old son of Premi Busha of Chaukhabang in Rukum district; Bhuma Budhathoki of Bajhkada in Salyan and Rajesh Budha, a Nepal Army soldier posted at Mahendradal Battalion in Rukum.

Ram Bahadur Giri, who survived the incident, said the vehicle hit a boulder beside the road, somersaulted thrice before landing on the stream. “I was awake while most of the passengers were asleep. The driver dozed off and the tragedy occurred,” he said.

Police Inspector Ranjit Singh Rathour said those with serious injuries were rushed to Nepalgunj, while the others are receiving treatment at Salyan District Hospital and Kantipur Community Hospital, Shreenagar.

The security personnel and local people reached the incident site immediately and rescued the victims.

In Tanahun, six Indian tourists died when a Scorpio jeep skidded off the road and plunged on the bank of the Marsyangdi river at Bandipur-6 along the Prithvi Highway on Tuesday night. The vehicle was on its way to Birgunj from Pokhara.

The deceased are the family members from Kolkata, India. Binaya Kumar Tiwari, his wife Kalawati, their daughters Nilam Tripathi and Punam Tripathi and grandchildren Neha Tripathi and Hemanta Tripathi were killed in the crash, said police. Four others were injured in the crash.

One of the seriously injured was taken to Kathmandu, while the others are undergoing treatment at a local hospital.

Superintendent of Police Gopiman Shrestha said the security personnel were deployed immediately for rescue as the jeep fell at around 11:15 pm. Police suspect that high speed could be the main cause of the accident.

Driver Yubaraj Gurung, who sustained minor injuries in the incident, was taken into custody for investigation.

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