Eight people died and 22 others were injured when a passenger bus plunged into the Trishuli river along the Prithvi Highway on Wednesday morning.

The passenger bus (Lu 2 Kha 291) en route from Kathmandu to Arghakhanchi fell into the Trishuli river near Fisling of Chitwan along the Prithvi Highway.

The accident took place around 20 kilometres west of Gajuri where 31 people were killed on October 28 when a passenger bus en route from Rajbiraj to Kathmandu fell into the same river. Bodies of four missing persons were found later.

The fatal crash on Wednesday occurred at around 9am when a speeding truck hit the bus.

Chitwan traffic police chief Santosh Pant said preliminary investigation shows the bus was hit by a truck coming from the opposite direction. “The speeding bus was on the wrong track as it was trying to overtake another vehicle. It got hit by the truck coming from the opposite direction and fell into the river,” said Pant.

Seven persons died on the spot while one succumbed to injuries later. Security personnel and locals have rescued 22 people including a six-month-old child. Two persons are said to be missing.

The rescuers found the boy on the river bank and rushed to the College of Medical Sciences in Bharatpur. The boy is admitted in the intensive care unit. “We have not been able to identify the parents yet,” said SP Dipak Thapa. Doctors involved in the treatment said the boy survived miraculously. Nine of the critically injured are also receiving treatment at the medical college. 

The ill-fated bus had left Kathmandu for Arghakhanchi at around 5:40. Divers from the Armed Police Force had pulled the bus from 25 feet below the water surface.

Three killed in Kalikot jeep crash

There persons were killed when a jeep veered off the road at Khudachakra-1 along the Karnali Highway on Tuesday night.

The vehicle (Lu 2 Cha 2003) en route from Mugu to Surkhet was carrying nine persons including a pregnant woman and her relatives. It swerved off the road and fell some 500 metres at around 10:30pm, said police.

Though vehicular movement along the Karnali Highway after 8pm is banned, police had let the jeep go as it was carrying a pregnant woman to Surkhet for treatment.

The pregnant woman, 19-year-old Shivamaya Malla of Shreenagar, Mugu, survived the accident.