Secretary at the Ministry of Irrigation, Ramananda Prasad Yadav, died after a jeep he was travelling in plunged into Trishuli River near Salanghat of Dhading along the Prithvi Highway on Saturday.

Though three people including Yadav had gone missing in the river, the rescue team later found his body inside the jeep.

The incident occured after the four-wheeler (Ba 1 Jha 3140) fell some 50 metres down the road this morning. The rescue team found the jeep at a depth of 15 metres inside the river.

Preliminary investigation of police shows that Yadav himself was driving the vehicle. His body was found in the driver’s seat.

Yadav was returning to Kathmandu from Kapilvastu after fixing the marriage of his daughter Dr Ranjana there. He was accompanied by his 22-year-old son Santosh Yadav, driver Niranjan Yadav and an unidentified adolescent girl.

Niranjan, however, survived the accident and has been sent to Kathmandu for treatment. He was rescued by locals while he was swimming to the river bank to save his life. Yadav’s son and the unidentified girl have gone missing in the  mighty river.

The accident took place at around 3 am. The jeep crashed through two concrete structures along the road side before plunging into the river. Police Inspector Sanjay Timilsena said they had difficulty in rescue operation due to poor visibility of water.