A tragic accident occurred when a bus carrying Indian pilgrims veered off a mountain road near Shahid Lakhan village, approximately 75 miles west of Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. The minibus, transporting more than a dozen Indian pilgrims back from the Manakamana Temple in Gorkha district, rolled around 500 feet down the mountainside, landing in a ravine.
The mishap resulted in the deaths of five men and two women, identified as Tamilarsi, Meenakshi, Muthu Kumar, Anamalik, Meena, Vijayal, and Sivagami. Additionally, nine others sustained injuries, including seven Indian pilgrims, the Nepali bus driver, and his assistant.
Following the accident, authorities and locals swiftly responded to the scene, assisting in rescuing the injured and transferring them to nearby medical facilities. Police indicated that autopsies will be conducted before releasing the victims’ bodies to their families, with investigations ongoing to determine the cause of the crash.
Nepal has witnessed numerous bus accidents annually, attributed to factors such as poorly maintained roads and vehicles, the challenging mountainous terrain, and narrow, winding roads. Notably, a similar incident in February resulted in the death of 19 individuals, including a British man, and injuries to 25 others after a bus plunged off the Prithvi Highway near Kathmandu.
Furthermore, in a separate tragic event, two buses carrying a total of 65 passengers were swept into a river by a landslide in 2024, with most passengers either killed or still missing. The wreckage of one of the buses was only recently discovered buried deep in sand.
