Three persons died and two others were injured when two cars collided at Nijgadh Municipality-9 in Bara district on early Saturday morning. 

Police said Akash Majhi, 25, and Bisham Majhi, 25, of Nijgadh-7 and Samundra Shrestha of Bhaktapur died in the incident. 

Naresh Majhi and Arjun Majhi of Nijgadh-7 were seriously injured. They are receiving treatment at Bharatpur-based Old Medical College.

Police Inspector Bikram Lama said Shrestha might have been drunk at the time of the accident because he was found driving on the opposite lane.

Police were trying to locate the driver of the other car on Sunday. In a separate incident, a man died and 18 others were injured when two buses collided head-on near Benighat in Dhading district on Saturday. 

Police identified the deceased as Kishor Bhandari of Chitwan, the driver of a Kathmandu-bound bus (Na 7 Kha 5281). 

The injured were taken to Highway Community Hospital in Malekhu.