More than 60 people are missing after a landslide swept two moving passenger buses into a river swollen by monsoon rains in central Nepal in the early hours of Friday, officials said.
According to a Nepal Police spokesman, Dan Bahadur Karki, the buses were pushed into the Trishuli River by a landslide that roared over a road connecting Chitwan and Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital city.
A vehicle operated by Angel Bus was heading to Kathmandu, and a Ganapati Deluxe-operated bus was en route to Rautahat from the capital, when the accident occurred at around 3:30 a.m., according to the local police. Mr. Karki said 24 passengers were on the bus traveling to Kathmandu, and 41 were on the other bus.
However, three passengers on the Rautahat-bound bus survived by jumping off the bus as it went into the river, he said.
Rescuers from the Nepal Army, the Armed Police Force and the Nepal Police were deployed to the scene soon after the accident, but they have yet to rescue or recover any passengers.
“As many as 250 rescuers equipped with rescue boats are deployed to the place from where the buses plunged into the river,” Mr. Karki said. “Sadly, they haven’t been able to locate the missing buses, either.”
Initially, the collapsed earth from the landslide also blocked the path of rescuers. As the river level rises from more heavy rain, it is increasingly complicating the search-and-rescue operations.
In a separate episode, the driver of another bus on the same section of road died after a boulder hit his vehicle as he drove to Kathmandu from Butwal.
This year, monsoon-related disasters have been deadlier than usual in Nepal, a country particularly vulnerable to climate change. Earlier this month, floods and landslides from seasonal rains killed at least 15 people in 24 hours. On Thursday night, 11 people died in a landslide in Pokhara. Among those killed were seven people from a single family, The Kathmandu Post reported.
The Nepalese agency that deals with disaster management and risk reduction reported that at least 88 people had been killed by monsoon-related landslides, floods and lightning through Thursday.
Expressing concern over certain late-night bus trips, some officials called for adjusting bus operation schedules during monsoons. Rajendra Prasad Pandey, a legislator, proposed banning night bus service.
The monsoon-related death toll is increasing in Nepal at a time when political parties are busy breaking or making alliances to run the government. Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal lost a no-confidence vote in Parliament on Friday, a move that will force him to step down after 19 months in office.
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