The death toll in Friday’s Nuwakot truck crash has climbed up to 20 after rescuers recovered one more body from the incident site and an injured passenger died in course of treatment.

Police said 24-year-old Sukram Tamang, who was rescued alive from the accident site, died in course of treatment at the Kathmandu-based Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH) on Saturday.

The mini-truck (Ba 3 Kha 3913) had swerved off the road and plunged nearly 600 metres into the Tadi stream at Ghyangphedi in Dupcheshwor Rural Municipality-1, Nuwakot, on Friday evening.

The incident site is about 40km north-east of Bidur, the district headquarters of Nuwakot.

Police have identified the deceased as Kenama Tamang, 48, Aita Tamang, 35, Ribhal Tamang, 32, Mangale Tamang, 23, Selabon Tamang, 55, Samsung Tamang, 65, Ritesh Pandit, 17, Takkale Tamang, 55, Bibimaya Tamang, 27, Sita Tamang, 15, Mingmar Tamang, 43, Bhim Bahadur Tamang, 20,  Chhongsenag Tamang, 35, Laxman Tamang, 34, Sunsari Tamang, 36, Bir Bahadur Lama, 46, Krishna Bahadur Tamang, 20, Min Bahadur Tamang, 49, Suni Lama, 50, and Sukram Tamang. Fifteen people, who were injured in the incident, were taken to Kathmandu. Ten of them are receiving treatment at the TUTH while five others are undergoing treatment at the BP Smriti Hospital.

The incident took place while the residents of Sisipu were returning home after performing Ghewa (death ritual) of a villager in Simtang.

Police are after the truck driver who reportedly fled after the crashing the truck.