Nepal Police and Armed Force along with other security forces launch a search and rescue operations along Trishuli River in Nepal .
| Photo Credit: ANI

Nepal has formally requested India’s assistance in locating the two buses and over five dozen passengers swept away in the landslide in central Nepal earlier on Friday, July 12 morning.

Nepal’s Ministry of Home Affairs wrote to India on Monday, July 15, sking for India’s assistance to search for the missing buses and passengers.

“We have written to the Indian government asking for technical assistance, including the divers, via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nepal,” Bhismakumar Bhusal, Joint Secretary at the Disaster and Conflict Management Division under the Home Ministry, confirmed to ANI over the phone.

“All the available resources don’t seem to be enough; that’s why we have asked India for assistance. It’s first time that we’ve asked them for this kind of assistance,” Mr. Bhusal added

.Nepal had asked for Bangladesh’s assistance for a search operation of a similar kind in previous years.

In the letter sent to India, Nepal has sought supporting technologies that would help to trace and retract the dead bodies or possible remains from the Trishuli River, where the two passenger buses were swept into by the landslide.

As per the record till Tuesday morning, a total of 13 bodies of passengers were recovered after the two buses were swept away by a landslide in Bharatpur metropolis-29, Simaltal, Chitwan, on Friday morning.

According to the police, nine bodies were recovered from Nawalparasi (Bardaghat Susta East), three from Chitwan, and one from Nawalparasi (Bardaghat-Susta West). Deputy Superintendent of Police Bed Bahadur Poudel, Information Officer at the District Police Office in Nawalparasi (Bardaghat-Susta East), confirmed that four bodies were found in the district on Monday alone.

Of the nine bodies recovered in Nawalpur, the identities of five have been confirmed as passengers from the swept-away buses.The remaining four bodies are yet to be identified but are believed to be among the missing passengers. Two of the bodies were recovered near the Gandak Barrage Bridge, and the other two were found along the Narayani river bank at Madhyabindu-2.

The identified bodies from three districts include 19-year-old Ramit Kasur Majhi of Barahathawa municipality-3 (Sarlahi), Bikas Pariyar, 22, of Madi-1 (Chitwan), Sajad Ansari (30) of Bihar’s Betiya, Rahum Miya (17) of Jamunamai rural municipality-4 (Rautahat), Rishipal Sah, 28, of Sitamadi Barganiya, India, Jay Prakash Thakur (30) of Sitamadi Betiya (India), and Paramananda Pandit (43) of Bara. These bodies have been sent to Bharatpur Hospital.

Nepal Police and Armed Force along with other security forces launch a search and rescue operations along Trishuli River in Nepal .
| Photo Credit: ANI

Nepal has formally requested India’s assistance in locating the two buses and over five dozen passengers swept away in the landslide in central Nepal earlier on Friday, July 12 morning.

Nepal’s Ministry of Home Affairs wrote to India on Monday, July 15, sking for India’s assistance to search for the missing buses and passengers.

“We have written to the Indian government asking for technical assistance, including the divers, via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nepal,” Bhismakumar Bhusal, Joint Secretary at the Disaster and Conflict Management Division under the Home Ministry, confirmed to ANI over the phone.

“All the available resources don’t seem to be enough; that’s why we have asked India for assistance. It’s first time that we’ve asked them for this kind of assistance,” Mr. Bhusal added

.Nepal had asked for Bangladesh’s assistance for a search operation of a similar kind in previous years.

In the letter sent to India, Nepal has sought supporting technologies that would help to trace and retract the dead bodies or possible remains from the Trishuli River, where the two passenger buses were swept into by the landslide.

As per the record till Tuesday morning, a total of 13 bodies of passengers were recovered after the two buses were swept away by a landslide in Bharatpur metropolis-29, Simaltal, Chitwan, on Friday morning.

According to the police, nine bodies were recovered from Nawalparasi (Bardaghat Susta East), three from Chitwan, and one from Nawalparasi (Bardaghat-Susta West). Deputy Superintendent of Police Bed Bahadur Poudel, Information Officer at the District Police Office in Nawalparasi (Bardaghat-Susta East), confirmed that four bodies were found in the district on Monday alone.

Of the nine bodies recovered in Nawalpur, the identities of five have been confirmed as passengers from the swept-away buses.The remaining four bodies are yet to be identified but are believed to be among the missing passengers. Two of the bodies were recovered near the Gandak Barrage Bridge, and the other two were found along the Narayani river bank at Madhyabindu-2.

The identified bodies from three districts include 19-year-old Ramit Kasur Majhi of Barahathawa municipality-3 (Sarlahi), Bikas Pariyar, 22, of Madi-1 (Chitwan), Sajad Ansari (30) of Bihar’s Betiya, Rahum Miya (17) of Jamunamai rural municipality-4 (Rautahat), Rishipal Sah, 28, of Sitamadi Barganiya, India, Jay Prakash Thakur (30) of Sitamadi Betiya (India), and Paramananda Pandit (43) of Bara. These bodies have been sent to Bharatpur Hospital.

Kathmandu:

Nepali rescue teams resumed their search early Saturday for at least 63 people missing after monsoon rains triggered a landslide that swept two buses off a highway and into a river.

The force of Friday’s landslide in central Chitwan district pushed the vehicles over concrete crash barriers and down a steep embankment, at least 30 metres (100 feet) from the road.

Dozens of rescuers spent hours struggling to comb the raging Trishuli river, an effort hampered by muddy waters and fierce currents, before sunset forced them to call off the search.

No sign of the vehicles or their occupants has yet been found.

“We will search all possible places,” Chitwan district chief Indra Dev Yadav told AFP.

“We will employ all our abilities for search and rescue despite the water levels, current and the water’s muddiness.”

District official Khimananda Bhusal told AFP on Friday that the buses were carrying at least 66 people between them, but three passengers had been able to escape and were treated at a local hospital.

The accident happened before dawn along the Narayanghat-Mugling highway, around 100 kilometres (60 miles) west of Kathmandu.

One bus was heading from the capital to Gaur in Rautahat district in southern Nepal, and the other was en route to Kathmandu from southern Birgunj.

A driver was killed in a separate accident on the same road after a boulder hit his bus. He died as he was being treated at a hospital.

Deadly crashes are common in the Himalayan republic because of poorly constructed roads, badly maintained vehicles and reckless driving.

Nearly 2,400 people lost their lives on Nepal’s roads in the 12 months to April, according to government figures.

Twelve people were killed and 24 injured in an accident in January when a bus heading to Kathmandu from Nepalgunj fell into a river.

Road travel becomes deadlier during the annual monsoon season as rains trigger landslides and floods across the mountainous country.

Monsoon rains across South Asia from June to September offer respite from the summer heat and are crucial to replenishing water supplies, but also bring widespread death and destruction.

The rainfall is hard to forecast and varies considerably, but scientists say climate change is making the monsoon stronger and more erratic.

Floods, landslides and lightning strikes have killed 88 people across the country since the monsoon began in June, according to police figures.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

People watch the flooded Bagmati river in Kathmandu, Nepal. File photo
| Photo Credit: AP

As many as 66 people were believed missing in Nepal after two buses were swept by a landslide triggered off the highway and into a swollen river Friday, officials said.

Also read: 62 killed in rain-related incidents in Nepal in one month

Rescuers were trying to locate the bus and and help with rescue the passengers but the continuous rain was making rescue efforts difficult.

The route leading to the accident area was also blocked in several places by landslides, said government administrator Khima Nanada Bhusal.

The buses were swept away around 3 a.m. Friday. Additional rescuers and security forces have been sent to the area to help with rescue efforts.

One bus had 24 people while the other had 42 but more could have boarded the bus while on the route, Bhusal said.

Monsoon season that begins in June and ends in September bring heavy rainfall to Nepal usually triggering landslides in the Himalayan country that is mostly covered by mountains.

Landslides triggered by heavy rainfall on June 29 killed at least nine people including an entire family while they were sleeping in Nepal’s mountainous districts, officials said.

The landslides buried houses in three separate areas in the country’s mountainous region, about 250 kilometers (156 miles) west of the capital, Kathmandu, according to Nepal’s National Disaster Rescue and Reduction Management Authority.

Five members of the same family were killed when their house was swallowed by a landslide while they were asleep at Malika village in Gulmi district. The victims included a couple, their daughter-in-law and two grandchildren including an 8-month-old girl.

Two more people were killed in neighboring Baglung district and another two in Syangja districts, officials said.

The monsoon season that brings heavy rainfall in Nepal began earlier this month. It generally triggers landslides in the mountainous areas that cover most part of this Himalayan nation, causing deaths and damage until September.