19 killed as packed bus plunges off a Nepal highway
KATHMANDU, NEPAL—A packed bus on its way to Nepal’s capital drove off a mountain highway in Nepal early on Monday, killing 19 people, including a British national and leaving another 25 wounded.
There were dozens of people on board the bus, which was heading from the resort city of Pokhara to Kathmandu when it drove off the Prithvi highway after midnight, police said.
The bus rolled down a mountain slope and landed on the banks of the Trishuli River near Benighat, about 80 kilometers west of the capital, Kathmandu.
Among those who died was a 24-year-old British national, according to a statement from the Dhading district police office.
Only nine bodies have been identified. The injured included a Chinese national, who is being treated at the National Trauma Center in Kathmandu.
China’s official Xinhua News Agency, citing the Chinese Embassy in Nepal, reported earlier that one other Chinese national was missing.
Rescuers reached the accident site soon after the accident and the injured were pulled out of the wreckage and driven to hospitals for treatment, according to government administrator Mohan Prasad Neupane.
