At least 26 people were killed and around 41 were injured in an accident when an overcrowded bus veered off a mountain road in Jajarkot district in Nepal, officials said on Friday (March 10).
Vijayawada bus accident: Several killed as bus falls into river in Andhra Pradesh
Government official Krishna Chandra Poudel said the bus fell off the the road on Thursday near a village around 400 kilometers (250 miles) west of the nation's capital, Kathmandu. The official said the bus rolled down a slope for about 200 meters (650 feet) before crashing into the Pasagad River.
Police personnel and armymen rushed to the spot of the accident while local villagers also helped the rescue officials in pulling out the bodies and the injured from the bus wreckage, according to Associated Press reports.
The government official said rescue helicopters, however, reached the accident spot late and were only able to fly 18 injured people to a hospital in Nepalgunj city for treatment. Reports stated that another eight gravely injured people are being flown on Friday but the progress was delayed by inclement weather conditions.
The rescue operation was reportedly conducted at the accident site using night-vision helicopter soon after the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Bimalendra Nidhi ordered, according to the spokesperson at the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA), Bal Krishna Panthi.
Reports also said the bus was carrying more than 60 passengers while going through one of the most dangerous mountainous highways in Nepal.