Kathmandu: At least 28 people were killed and 14 others injured on Tuesday when a passenger bus fell off a cliff in western Nepal, a local official said.
Twenty-four passengers died on the spot in the tragedy occurring in Pina Gaun of the Mugu district in Karnali Province, while four others succumbed to their injuries on the way to the hospital, said Rom Bahadur Mahat, Mugu’s chief district officer.
“The bus was carrying 42 people including bus staff when the tragic accident happened,” Mahat told Xinhua over the phone from the scene. “Fourteen of the injured have been sent to Nepalgunj through helicopters and regular flights.”
Mahat said most of the dead are students and migrant workers returning from India for Dashain, the biggest festival in Nepal, and the bus was heading toward Mugu’s Gamgadhi from Surkhet, the provincial capital.
“Our preliminary investigation based on the witnesses suggests the bus lost its balance after one of its tires burst in the difficult section of the road to Gamgadhi,” said Mahat.
On Monday, eight people lost their lives in a jeep accident in Ghandruk of the Kaski district in Gandaki Province.
