Of the deceased, 17 are male and seven are female, informed Police Inspector Saroj Rai of the District Police Office (DPO), Khotang. Among them, the identities of 15 deceased have been ascertained by Tuesday evening. Among the deceased are bus driver Arjun Upreti of Kathmandu; Bimala Rai of Nirmalidada-5, Khotang; Shanta Rai of Tamlichha, Udayapur; and Hem Sunar of Thanagaun, Udayapur.Police said their preliminary investigation showed that the accident took place while the bus was trying to skirt a pile of stones on the roadside. The dead bodies have been retrieved from a steep cliff and a stream while the bus remains stuck in a bamboo grove.
Security personnel from Halesi Area Police Office, Arkhaule Police Post, Nepalese Army, and locals are carrying out the rescue work.
Some 23 persons who sustained critical injuries in the accident have been airlifted to Kathmandu by a Nepal Army chopper for further treatment. "We have airlifted 23 critically injured to Kathmandu as treatment were not possible in Halesi," said Madan Neupane, chief of Mude-based Sher Battalion of the Nepal Army.
Among those airlifted to Kathmandu, 12 are undergoing treatment at the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, three at Green City Hospital, three at B&B Hospital, two at Bir Hospital and one at Nepalese Army hospital in Chhauni. The remaining seven others who sustained slight injuries are receiving treatment at a health post in Khotang.
The bodies of the deceased have been taken to the district hospital at Diktel for post-mortem, according to Armed Police Force inspector Phurgeli Sherpa of Halesi. This accident is the biggest one in the district in terms of causalities recorded. The whole district is in mourning.
The incident site is about 10 miles away from the district headquarters, Diktel.
Related story
One dies, 13 injured in Khotang bus accident
