SANKHAUWASABHA, Jan 15: Six people, including chief of Makalu Rural Municipality of Sankhauwasabha, died in a jeep accident in Samatar of Makalu-3 on Sunday.
The ill-fated jeep (Ba 5 Cha 1309) belonging to the Central Project Implementation Unit under the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development was en route to Bhotkhola Rural Municipality when it plunged some 800 meters down the road into the bank of Arun River at around 12 pm, according to Chief District Officer Shiva Raj Joshi.
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The road section where the accident occurred was opened just about two months ago. The incident site is at least 70 kilometers north from the district headquarters Khandbari.
The deceased include municipality chief Khadka Bahadur Katuwal, sociologist Arjun Basnet, engineer Sudeep Dhakal, information officer of District Coordination Committee Subhash Chandra Kuikel, Suresh Rai and the jeep's driver whose identity is yet to be ascertained, informed Police Inspector Bed Prasad Gautam.
Police had taken out the bodies from the jeep shortly after the accident. “We broke the jeep's windows to take the bodies out,” said Inspector Gautam.
CDO Joshi said that bodies of the deceased have been badly damaged. Most of them had arrived to the district from Kathmandu to provide training on earthquake reconstruction.
The deceased chief of Makalu Rural Municipality, Katuwal, 50, was involved in working to make the local unit a religious and tourist destination.
The accident, however, marked the end of his wish to see the dreams fulfilled. The whole of Makalu Rural Municipality is mourning the untimely death of Katuwal.
