- KATMANDU: A crowded bus veered off a mountain road and plunged into a river in western Nepal on Thursday, killing at least 24 people and leaving another nine missing, officials said.
Earlier police estimated at least 70 people were on board the bus, but they have so far only accounted for 34 people and confirmed nine are missing. The bus plunged into the Karnali River near Pipalkot village, about 400 km west of Katmandu. Police rescuers reached the accident site on cars and a helicopter soon after the accident.
Police official Kumar Pandit said rescuers have recovered two dozen bodies. Ten injured people are being treated in nearby hospitals, he said. The missing are believed to be either trapped in the wreckage still submerged in the fast-flowing mountain river or swept by the current. Buses traveling the route are generally overcrowded, with people packed inside the vehicles as well as on their roofs.