A passenger was killed and 26 others were injured when a bus swerved off the road and fell several metres down on the Trishuli riverbank at Kalikhola area along the Muglin-Narayangadh road in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. The bus (Na 4 Kha 5442) had left from Kathmandu for Malangawa, Sarlahi, on Monday evening with 23 passengers and four staff onboard. Police said Dharma Raj Mandal, 33, of Siraha, was killed in the incident. Three of the injured were admitted to hospital in critical conditions. Superintendent of Police Dipak Thapa said the accident was caused as a result of careless driving. According to the survivors, SP Thapa said, the bus crashed when the driver was trying to overtake a truck. The bus driver, Ram Dular Raya, is on the run.

The accident site is located at the accident-prone area of the 36 km Muglin-Narayangadh road. 

  In August, a bus en route to Pokhara from Rautahat had crashed into the Trishuli river at the same area, killing 27 people. Just two weeks after that, another bus had also plunged into the Trishuli at Chandibhanjyang-6, in which 22 people died.

Police records show that 335 people have died in motor accidents along the 

Muglin-Narayangadh road in the past 10 years.