DHANUSHA, Jan 27: After performing the postmortems, police on Saturday handed over the bodies of six wedding party attendants who were electrocuted when the bus they were traveling in touched a low-hanging high-voltage electric cable a day before. The tragic incident had taken place at Baltiya of Sabaila Municipality-4 of Dhanusha on Friday evening.
The six persons who died in the incident have been identified as Akrosh Kumar Adhikari, 9, of Dhudhauli Municipality-9, Sindhuli, Puja Adhikari, 20, Lila Adhikari, 17, Suraj Adhikari, 10, Ram Babu Adhikari, 45, and a local, Kesham Devi Kumur, 60, of Baltiya.
Around 17 others had sustained injuries in the incident. Among them, Pawan Pariyar, who was critically injured, has been referred to Biratnagar after his treatment was not possible at the Janakpur Zonal Hospital.
40 wedding attendants injured in Bhaktapur bus accident
The other injured, including Fulkumari Kumar, 30, Badri Kumar, 31, and three-year-old Hariban Kumar are undergoing treatment at Janakpur Hospital, according to Superintendent of Police (SP) Govinda Thapaliya of the District Police Office (DPO), Dhanusha.
The incident happened when the wedding party bus (Na 5 Kha 1752) which was returning home touched the high voltage transmission line along the highway when it was en route to Baltiya-Kothiya of Dhanusha from Jitpur, Dudhauli Municipality, Sindhuli. The transmission line was 11,000 Volt.
The whole Baltiya village is mourning. The village is crowded with people from neighboring villages who have come to learn about the incident and express condolence.
Police said driver's negligence is the main reason behind the incident. The bus driver is at large and police are looking for him. However, Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) seems equally at fault.
“Our preliminary investigation shows that the driver is at fault. We can uncover more facts about the incident after we find the driver,” said SP Thapaliya. He also pointed out the fault of NEA for the accident.
However, officials at the Mahendranagar branch of NEA denied their fault, stating that the driver could have easily prevented the accident. “Huge metal trunks were kept on the roof of the bus, which easily touched the transmission line,” said Raj Kumar Raman, in-charge of the NEA Mahendranagar chapter.
Meanwhile, Province 2 Chief Minister Lalbabu Raut has expressed condolence to the bereaved families and said he has already instructed the DPO to leave no stone unturned to investigate the case.
Releasing a statement on Saturday, Raut pledged appropriate compensation to the families of the dead and promised to provide proper treatment to the injured.
