Dozens of Indian tourists killed in Nepal bus accident

A bus carrying Indian tourists plunged off a Nepali highway and into a river on Friday, killing 27 people and injuring another 16.

The bus was travelling from the tourist city of Pokhara to the capital Kathmandu when the accident happened around noon in the central district of Tanahun.

"Out of 43, in total 27 people have died," Tanahun district official Janardan Gautam told AFP.

Rescuers struggled against the raging Marsyangdi River to pull passengers out of the water.

Another 16 injured passengers were airlifted by military helicopter to Kathmandu for treatment.

Authorities said that all the people who boarded the bus were Indian citizens who had stayed in Pokhara the night before and were heading to Kathmandu.

The bus veered off Prithvi Highway and rolled toward a fast-flowing river, stopping on the rocky bank. The top part of the bus was ripped, but the wreckage did not plunge into the Marsyangdi river.

In July, two buses were swept by landslides not too far from Friday's accident site.

Of the 65 people on board those two buses, only three survived and only about half the bodies were recovered. The wreckage of those buses have not been found yet but authorities have continued to search.

Bus accidents in Nepal are mostly due to poorly maintained roads and vehicles and much of the country is covered by mountains with narrow roads.

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Source: TRT