DHARAN/ARGHAKHANCHI, April 9: A total of seven people died in two separate road accidents on Monday. One accident occurred in Arghakhanchi and the other in Dharan.
A bus headed for Dharan from Budhabare, Chaubise Rural Municipality-6 of Dhankuta district, crashed into a concrete football replica and a tree near “zero point” at around 1:15 pm .
Forty-seven passengers were injured after the overloaded bus (Na 6 kha 2713) crashed, killing 4 passengers including an infant.
The injured are being treated at BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences (BPKIHS) at Dharan. As informed by BPKIHS Director Dr Bikas Sah, Three passengers are being treated in the Intensive Care Unit, one is being treated at the Neuro Science Department and an infant is admitted to the Pediatric ICU.
When will it end?
The four killed include; driver Chakra Bahadur Gurung of Dharan-15; Yamakumari Magar, 20, of Kerabari-9, Morang and her five months old daughter Dina; and 57 years old Dal Bahadur Magar of Chaubise Rural Municipality-9. Gurung lost his life on the way to the hospital, while others died while undergoing treatment.
As reported by the passengers, the driver and a few passengers seated in the front had learned about the brake fail when the bus made a screeching sound. Reportedly, the driver with an intention to prevent a greater accident tried to bring the bus to a halt by crashing into the concrete football replica, a tree, and an electricity pole.
“The driver was crushed between the concrete and his seat and the bus overturned,” said Deputy Superintendent of Police, Suman Timisina. He also informed that a JCB excavator was brought to help rescue Gurung.
Similarly, a passenger jeep, headed for Pyuthan’s Baraula village from Argakhanchi’s district headquarters Sandhikharka met with an accident at Lattobajh, Bhumikasthan Municipality-8, killing three of its passengers. The accident occurred at around 2 pm.
The jeep (Lu 1 ja 1229) reportedly veered off the road after its brakes failed while going uphill. The accident took the lives of 50-year-old Dhana Bahadur Rana and 14-year-old Manika Acharya, residents of Pyuthan’s Airavati Rural Municipality-2 on the spot; and a 6-year-old unidentified boy, while undergoing treatment hospital.
The vehicle with a capacity of 14 passengers had 18 passengers in it. Eight of the injured have been referred to Lumbini Zonal Hospital after initial treatment and the rest are still at Sandhikharka Hospital.
Both the accidents are said to have caused by a brake failure.
