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Kathmandu Monday March 04, 2002 Falgun 20, 2058.
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Nine
killed, 42 injured in Charaudi bus accident
By Prabhakar
Ghimire
CHARAUDI, Chitwan,
March 3 : At least nine people including a girl-child and a woman were killed while 42
others sustained injuries when a passenger bus en route to Kathmandu from Siraha fell
about 100 metres off the Prithvi Highway at Chraudi of Benighat VDC-7 Sunday morning,
according to the police.
Of the total injured,
condition of 27 people is critical and they are receiving treatment in the capital city.
Ten passengers, however, escaped unhurt in the tragic accident, officials at the
Gajuri-based police station said.
The dead bodies are yet
to be identified, said Police Inspector Uttam Silwal. He added that some of the bodies
were still missing in the snow-fed river.
Silwal said that eight
people were killed instantly, and the other one breathed his last on the way to a hospital
in Kathmandu. He said that about 65 people were travelling in the ill-fated bus (with
registration number Na 2 Kha 3988) that skidded off the busy highway and partially plunged
into the Trishuli river while giving a way to another bus at about 9:15 Sunday morning.
The bus was totally
mangled after it hit a rock on the river’s left bank.
A large number of
locals and the policemen were mobilised to rescue the people trapped inside the mangled
bus and in searching the others missing in the river, the police officials said.
All the injured people
were rushed to the Bir Hospital and the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in the
capital for treatment at around 1 p.m. today. Among those injured, 29 are undergoing
treatment at the Bir Hospital while 13 others are at the Teaching Hospital.
Dr. Basant Bahadur Pant
at the emergency ward of the Bir Hospital said that most of the people have suffered head
injuries and have fractured hands and legs. "We are now facing shortage of beds to
accommodate all the injured people," said Dr. Pant. He added that they had referred
other injured people to other hospitals to cope with the situation.
"I and four others
were travelling to Kathmandu to have our health checked up to grab an employment
opportunity in Kuwait. But unfortunately we met with the fatal accident," said
Mohammad Taslim, 18, who is one of the injured receiving treatment at the Bir Hospital.
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