Autopsy underway of 27 Indians killed in Nepal bus accident: Senior official

Kathmandu, Aug 24 (PTI) The post-mortem of the 27 Indian pilgrims who were killed in the tragic bus accident in Nepal was underway in a hospital in the Bagmati province on Saturday, a senior official said, ahead of the transportation of the bodies to Maharashtra.

At least 27 Indian pilgrims, all from Maharashtra, who were in Nepal for a 10-day tour, were killed and 16 others injured after their bus veered off the highway and fell into a fast-flowing river in central Nepal on Friday.

The post-mortem of bodies is being held in the Bharatpur Hospital in the Chitwan district of the Bagmati province, Home Ministry spokesperson Narayan Prasad Bhattarai said.

The bodies were sent from the Anbu Khaireni Hospital to Chitwan for a post-mortem, the MyRepublica news portal reported, quoting Deputy Superintendent of Police Deepak Rai.

An Indian Air Force plane will transport the bodies to Nashik today, a Maharastra state government release said on Friday in Mumbai.

Union minister Raksha Khadse arrived in Kathmandu to oversee the return of the victims and survivors.

“Discussion on rescue operation & further course of action at Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu with Indian Ambassador Shri Naveen Srivastava and Joint Secretary of Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Nepal, Shri Brighu Dhungana,” she said in a post on X.

She also shared a detailed list of the 16 people injured, the majority of whom sustained “serious” injuries. Ten of those injured were females, while the remaining six were males.

Calling the bus accident “tragic”, Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli condoled the deaths in a post on X.

“Deeply saddened by the tragic bus accident in Abu Khaireni, Tanahun, which claimed the lives of 27 Indian citizens travelling from Pokhara to Kathmandu. My heartfelt tributes to the victims and condolences to their families, including Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi ji,” Oli said.

The Indian embassy in Nepal Emergency shared relief telephone numbers on Friday which would remain accessible throughout the day.

“@IndiainNepal remains available 24×7 at the following emergency relief numbers accessible on WhatsApp:+977-9851107021 +977-9851316807 +977-9749833292,” it said in a post on X.

According to the police, the bus from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh carrying 43 passengers, including the driver and two helpers, was heading towards Kathmandu from Pokhara when it met with the accident at Aanboo Khaireni area along the Marsyangdi River in Tanahun district around noon.

It took nearly seven hours for the personnel of the Nepal Police, the Armed Police Force, and the Nepal Army to rescue the injured and pull dead passengers from the crash site, The Kathmandu Post newspaper reported.

While 16 people died on the spot, 11 succumbed to their injuries while undergoing treatment, Deputy Spokesperson of Nepal’s Armed Police Force (APF) Shailendra Thapa told PTI.

The 16 people who sustained injuries have been airlifted to Kathmandu and admitted at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, he added.

Six of them are in critical condition, according to the newspaper.

“One person is being treated in intensive care,” the report quoted Dr Dinesh Kafle, director at the TU Teaching Hospital as saying.

“Some critically injured patients may need intensive care, and we are trying to arrange additional [ICU] beds for them,” he said.

The reason for the accident is not yet known. The accident site lies on the national highway, some 90 km west of Kathmandu.

The bus, with an Uttar Pradesh number plate, fell around 150 metres down the hilly road along the bank of Marsyangdi river and will be lifted with the help of a crane.

According to a report in the news portal, the passengers onboard the bus were part of a group of 104 Indian pilgrims who arrived in Nepal from Maharashtra in three buses two days ago for a tour of the Himalayan nation. The victims were from Varangaon, Daryapur, Talvel and Bhusaval in Jalgaon district, 470 km from Mumbai, officials said.