CHITWAN, July 29: Until a few days ago, there used to be a crowd of people visiting the mortuary of Bharatpur Hospital with the hope of finding their loved ones who lost their lives in the Simaltal bus accident. Even the police working there used to be busy. However, nowadays, the hospital mortuary has been quiet. Although there are ten bodies in the mortuary, the identities of the deceased remain unidentified.

Police said that the relatives of those missing in the Simaltal bus accident have not visited the hospital as the rescuers have not found any more bodies in the Trishuli and Narayani rivers.

Police working at the hospital mortuary said, “Five bodies were discovered in the Narayani River while ten were found in other places. It has been over one week that no one has come to identify the bodies.” 

The body of a passenger was identified last time on July 21.

There were 65 passengers on the two buses. Among them, three passengers managed to jump off the window and save their lives, while 62 passengers went missing in the Trishuli River due to a landslide at Simaltal. Following the accident, a search operation was conducted to locate the bus and passengers. So far, 24 bodies have been recovered. But five bodies, all of them men, found in the Narayani River have not been identified yet.

Similarly,  the identity of two dead bodies found in Siswar of Bharatpur Metropolitan City-26, Chitwan on July 18, one dead body found in Bhutaha, Madhyabindu-2 on July 16, and one dead body found in Binayi Triveni-6 on July 19 have not been ascertained, as reported by the District Administration Office, Chitwan.

According to the district administration, the body of a man was last discovered in the Narayani River on July 19. Indradev Yadav, Chief District Officer (CDO) of Chitwan, said that identifying bodies in the coming days will be more difficult. Even those bodies found within a week of the incident have become difficult to identify, and now, it is not possible to identify the bodies by looking at their faces. Dr Sudip KC, who is working in the old medical college, said that it would be difficult to identify the dead body after four to five days of their death in the summer season. 

“Dead body decay quickly in the summer season. Now, even if the bodies of the missing passengers are found in Trishuli, only their skeleton would be left," said KC. 

Prof Dr Krishna Prasad Paudel, the Medical Superintendent of Bharatpur Hospital, said that according to rules, unidentified bodies must be retained for 35 days in the hospital. If no relatives come forward within this period, the bodies will be handed over to the local authorities through the police.

Although 12 Indian teams and security teams including Nepali Police and Armed Police force (APF) have conducted the search operation, the buses and 43 missing passengers have not been found yet. CDO Yadav said that despite the relatives of the accident victims having returned home, they are still in contact with the police.

Indian teams searching for missing buses and passengers in Trishuli River return back

An Indian team that came to search for the two buses and passengers that went missing in the Trishuli River were supposed to return to their country on Sunday. The District Administration Office Chitwan stated that the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team from India, which was deployed for a week, will also be returning on Sunday.

Since last Sunday, the Indian team, along with the APF and the Nepalese Army, has been searching for the missing bus. Indradev Yadav said that despite their best efforts, there was no success. As a result, the Indian team is returning after the timeframe for the search has come to an end.

A team of 12 people from India arrived in Chitwan last Saturday and began their work the following day. They conducted search and rescue operations using magnets and sonar cameras in the Trishuli and Narayani rivers.

During the search operation, a 19 kilogram magnet brought by the NDRF was also lost in the Trishuli River. The Indian team had asked for 19 kg and 14 kg magnets. CDO Yadav said that the Nepali security personnel will continue the search effort for the missing buses and passengers with a new strategy.

 
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