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Kathmandu Wednesday May 09, 2001 Baishakh 26, 2058.
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21
killed, 50 injured in three bus accidents
Post Report
KATHMANDU, May 8 - At least 21 people were killed and more
than 50 people injured in three separate road accidents in Malta VDC and Gwarkhu of
Lalitpur district and in Damauli district on Tuesday, according to the police.
A total of 10 people succumbed to the fatal road accident
and 22 other sustained injuries when a Kathmandu-bound bus from Malta VDC plunged 200 feet
off a country road at Gogan Ghari of the VDC.
According to Police Inspector Shusil Yadav at the District
Police Office in Lalitpur, the bus skidded off the road after a gabion wall collapsed.
Most of the people killed in the accident are from the
Malta VDC. Those succumbed to the mishap have been identified as Shambhu Khadka and Jamuna
Ghimire from Bhatte Danda-5 and 9 respectively, Sawal Singh Lungwa, Meghnath Timilsina,
Sunita Timilsina, Som Bahadur Thing, Raja Lumba and Tek Bahadur Gharti from Malta VDC.
Likewise, Kaila Lo from Ipa VDC-3 in Makawanpur and Naina
Singh Bhulun from Mahendra Ghari VDC-3 in Sindhuli district are among those killed in the
accident.
All the bodies have been brought to the Patan Mission
Hospital for post-mortem and others injured are undergoing treatment at the same hospital.
Condition of three of the injured, including the bus driver, is reported to be critical,
the hospital said.
In another accident in the same district, three people were
killed instantly while doctors at Patan hospital declared two others dead on arrival in
another road accident at Gwarkhu on the ring road area after a bus and a truck collided
early Tuesday, according to the police headquarters.
Names of those killed in the accident are yet to be
confirmed. A total of 21 people, including two German citizens riding on a motorbike,
sustained injuries in the collision. The two were riding on their motorcycle right behind
the truck.
Of the total injured, 16 people have been hospitalised at B
& B hospital, Patan hospital and Bir Hospital. Condition of four passengers is
reported to be critical, according to Bir hospital.
Meanwhile, our Damauli-based correspondent Kulchandra
Neupane reported that at least six people were killed on Tuesday and five others sustained
injuries, one of them seriously, when a high voltage power transmission line touched the
bus and electrocuted the passengers.
The incident occurred at Belbas, about two km away from
here, the district headquarters, when the bus had stopped right below the swinging
transmission line.
The people succumbed to electric shock when the 11,000 KV
capacity transmission line hooked up on an iron rod of the bus and electrocuted the entire
bus. However, people who were sitting on the bus seats did not feel the electric shock.
Police said more than 100 people were travelling in the bus
(Na 2 Kha 254) that left for Damauli, the district headquarters, from Keshavtar VDC. An
eyewitness said he saw one of the passengers who died later fall burned from top of the
bus.
Those who died in the fatal accident have been identified
as Bhanu Bhakta Bhattarai, 30, Deepak Thapa, 19, Maiya BK, 23 and her daughter Manika BK,
5, and Tak Bahadur Thapa, 45, from Keshavtar VDC. Likewise, Ward member Dharma Raj Pant
from Pokhari Bhanjyang VDC was among those to be killed in the electrician shock. People
who survived the incident said they felt the shock for about 15 minutes. Post-mortems of
all the dead bodies were carried out in the local health centre today.
Five others who sustained minor injuries in the accident
were returned home after receiving treatment at the local health centre while bus helper
Sanju Thapa, who was seriously injured, has been hospitalised in Pokhara.
Refuting the survivors’ claim, technician of the Nepal
Electricity Authority (NEA), state monopoly for power supply, said that power supply cuts
off automatically once it is disturbed by any means.
The high voltage transmission lines were swinging due to
the stormy weather that occurred last week. Local accused the NEA officials of not paying
proper attention to repair the lines one time and it resulted in such heavy casualties.
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