Chitwan bus victim says driver was drunk

KATHMANDU: The driver of the ill-fated bus which killed at least 22 and injured over 50 school kids near Gaindakot, Chitwan, last Thursday was drunk, said one of the victims. Meena Chilwal, 16, who was brought to Bir Hospital for treatment on Friday afternoon, told myrepublica.com from her bed in the emergency section, that the driver was drunk and not driving properly within his lane, in fact often driving beyond the outer edge of the road. [break]



Chilwal, along with her younger sister Manisha, 13, was brought to Kathmandu at 1pm on the recommendations of doctors at the local Bharatpur Medical College.



Manisha regained consciousness 12 hours after the accident. While Manisha received significant head injuries, her sister was lucky not to sustain any obvious external injuries.



Twenty-two passengers, including students of Hill Bird Boarding School, Chitwan, were killed as the doomed bus (Ba 1 Kha 1459) they were travelling on after celebrating a picnic met with a terrible accident near Gaindakot at around 8 pm.



Superitendent of Police (SP), Chitwan, Gyan Bikram Shahi, said over 60 others aboard the bus were injured in the accident.

 

Police said the bus careened 50 feet along the road while attempting to avoid a tractor coming in the opposite direction. There were two buses ferrying students from the picnic, however it was the bus carrying the girl students which met with the accident. Police believe over 80 passengers were onboard the bus at the time.



District Police Office, Chitwan, has publicized the identities of sixteen killed in the accident.

 

Those identified among the deceased are - Prabina Subedi, Alina Acharya, Sonisa Gaire, Akriti Pathak, Rimi Subedi, Barsha Devkota, Juna Bhandari and Apsara Baral. Durga Poudel, Nikita Devkota, Ayusha Nyoupane, Bipin Baral, Dibash Shrestha, Prabesh Subedi, Dibya Phuyal, and Uchit Sedhain. The identities of those which remain are yet to be revealed.

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