The accident took place on the Mukundapur-Nawalparasi segment of Mahendra Highway, some 10 kilometers south of Narayanghat, while students of Hill-Bird Boarding High School, Bharatpur were returning home after a picnic in Butwal, some 115 kilometers away. [break]
"For a few days, many mourned for the victims. But a host of managerial concerns involved in organizing a school-picnic still go neglected," said Bal Krishna Paudel, father of eight grader Anjila, who died in the accident.
Eighteen students including an eight-year-old, three teachers and a bus hand were killed in the accident. The relatives of all 23 deceased jointly organized ´ekaha´, a religious rite, at the accident site in their memory.
"It sounded to us after the accident that the state would likely formulate certain regulations about picnic management by schools. If not, educational institutes had to be more aware of the perils surrounding unsafe picnicking. But everyone ended up forgetting everything," said Bhanu Chandra Neupane, co-ordinator of the Hill-Bird Student-Teacher Memorial Fund founded by relatives of the victims.
The accident had engulfed the whole nation in grief, with the President and the Prime Minister issuing separate statements of sorrow. "Our demand for a special panel to probe the incident was also not fulfilled," said Neupane. The Fund has prepared a Rs 12.5 million-plan to open a memorial park at the site. The bus driver is still in custody.
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