Former Home Minister Madhav Prasad Ghimire is among the three persons missing after a jeep plunged into the Trishuli river at Dahrechok-3 in Chitwan district on Sunday afternoon.

The bodies of his mother and two others were recovered from water near the site 150 metres below the Prithvi Highway. Bishnu Rai, the driver, sustained serious injuries. He is receiving care at the College of Medical Sciences, Bharatpur. The jeep (Ba 9 Cha 1531), en route to Kathmandu, has been missing as it fell into the river at Ghoptebheer. According to Chitwan CDO Binod Prakash Singh, rescuers had retrieved the bodies of Ghimire’s mother Chaitanya Kumari, Armed Police Force Sub-inspector Ram Chandra Karki and Ghimire’s nephew Narayan Kafle.

SP Basanta Kunwar said that Ghimire and his two brothers Prakash Ghimire and Mohan Ghimire have been missing. The cause of the accident is still not clear, he added. An investigating officer quoted the injured driver as saying that Ghimire had been driving the vehicle when the accident occurred. The Ghimire family was returning to Kathmandu after performing a shraddha—an annual commemorative ceremony in honour of the deceased ancestors—in Kagbeni of Mustang.

A former chief secretary, Ghimire was the home minister and foreign minister in the technocratic government led by Khil Raj Regmi. Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal directed security personnel to expedite the search operation.