Nine people were killed when an overcrowded bus turned turtle at Thokarpa-2 of the district. Twenty-two more were injured. All of the deceased are from Bekhsimle VDC. They were heading to their village from Lamosanghu. [break]
Seventy passengers were on board the ill-fated bus and some were on the roof of the vehicle, said DSP Ajay Bhattarai.
According to the police, the deceased have been identified as Chitra Bahadur Tamang, 47, Maila Tamang, 42, Iman Singh Tamang, 21, Ambar Bahadur Tamang, 50, Lal Bahadur Tamang, 61, Motilal Pahari, 35, Narayan Pahari, 29, and Krishna Bahadur Bhujel, 60. Nepal Police and Armed Police Force personnel were mobilized for the rescue work.
The injured were rushed to Sheer Memorial Hospital, Banepa, and B&B Hospital in Lalitpur after preliminary treatment at a local hospital.
EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
We went to Sindhu branch of Nepal Electricity Authority at Lamosanghu to press the public utility to supply power to the VDC where wiring was completed five years ago.
The villagers decided to go there in group as the officials didn´t listen to their representatives who frequented the NEA branch. As we reached there en masse, the officials did our job even working for extra hours Friday.
After that, we left for home. We traveled to Chehere on a truck. From there we arranged a bus. Sixty-two people from our village and eight from Lisankhu and Tokharpa areas were on the bus. Some passengers were on the roof.
It was about 8:30 pm. We were about to reach Ratuwapati at Thokarpa-2. Four youths asked the driver to stop the bus. There was a heated debate for a few minutes between the youths and the driver.
An angry driver left the steering, came out of the vehicle and instructed his helper to place a wedge under the back tire so that the vehicle is properly stopped.
The helper was trying to place a wooden block beneath the tire, but the irate youths obstructed him from doing so. Then the bus went back and veered off the road. Chameli Bhandari left the sit. I suggested her not to move from the sit but she moved. Later I found her knocked by the bus.
Lal Bahadur GC and me were inside the bus. We rushed to the police check post at Thokarpa and informed the police. Police and locals started rescue work. We joined them.
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