An overloaded bus plunged some 200 metres off the road at Sahukharka along the Bhimdutta Highway in Dadeldhura district on Wednesday, killing five persons and injuring 34 others. Five of the injured are reportedly in critical conditions.

Carrying passengers and goods beyond the bus’s capacity was the main cause behind the fatal crash, said police. The 32-seater bus (Na 6 Kha 1831)—which was heading to Bajhang from Dhangadhi in Kailali—was carrying more than 50 passengers and nearly 100 quintals of goods.

The deceased have been identified as Narendra Gurudhami and Haruli Bohara of Kedarshyu-5, Dhan Bahadur Gharti and Kalashi Devi Gurudhami of Talkot, and Mohammad Nisir of Bihar in India. Five critically injured patients were taken to Dhangadhi while others are receiving treatment in the district hospital of Dadeldhura.

Dharma Singh Rokaya, a resident of Kotbhairav in Bajhang who survived the accident, said that the traffic police did not stop the vehicle even though it blatantly breached the traffic rule. There are six traffic police check-posts from Attariya to Dadeldhura.