SARLAHI, June 1: The driver died when a passenger bus slid down an uphill road and fell into the Kyankhola river in Sindhuli on Friday morning.
The ill-fated bus (Na 3 Kha 6682), which was heading toward Bagmati from Mahendrajhadi of Sindhuli, fell into the river from the road at Morange in Hariharpurgadhi Rural Municipality at around 9 am. The deceased driver has been identified as Biru Rai, 35, of Chandrapur Municipality-1.
Photographs of Sindhuli on display
Police inspector Charitra Bikram Karki of the Area Police Office (APO) Kapilkot informed Republica that the driver had asked all the passengers to briefly alight saying the road section was too steep for the bus to climb. Once the passengers had climbed down he drove the bus uphill but the engine suddenly gave way and the bus slid backward and plunged into the river.
“There are two bends along the uphill section at Morange and the bus suddenly stopped and slid backward and fell into the river,” said Police Inspector Karki, adding, “As the driver had no time to jump out the window, he was crushed to death inside.”
The accident site is six kilometers north from the East-West Highway in Sindhuli district with no police stations nearby. Although the accident occurred in the morning, police learnt about it much later in the day.
