Nepal bus accident: 51 survivors, 2 bodies set to arrive in UP's Maharajgang

Maharajganj (UP), Aug 24 (PTI) Fifty-one people of the group from Maharashtra that had gone to Nepal and met with a bus accident there will arrive here on Saturday evening, along with the bodies of the vehicle's driver and cleaner who died in the incident, officials said.

They will be then taken to Gorakhpur under police protection and supervision of additional district magistrate, the district officials said.

The district administration has made food and other necessary arrangements for all the passengers at the border, they added.

The Maharajgang district is located near the Indo-Nepal border.

At least 27 Indian pilgrims, all from Maharashtra, who had gone to Nepal for a 10-day tour were killed and 16 others injured after the bus they were travelling in veered off the highway and fell into the fast-flowing Marsyangdi river Friday.

District Magistrate Anunay Jha said after reaching Maharajganj, the 51 passengers will be sent to Gorakhpur after providing them with food and beverages.

"The body of driver Murtaza will be taken to his native place Gorakhpur, while the body of Ramjit will be sent to Kushinagar with a police escort and green channel," Jha added.

The DM said the Mahrajganj administration has arranged for 6 hearses, 11 ambulances and a 42-seater bus at the border for ferrying the passengers and bodies. A medical team is also deployed on the border.

Teams of the district administration and police are stationed at the international border and are on hight alert, he said.

According to Jha, a group of 110 people from several parts of Maharashtra had gone to Nepal in two buses and one traveller van. One of these buses met with the accident on Friday that killed 27, including 25 passengers, the driver and cleaner. Sixteen injured passengers are being treated at Kathmandu hospital.

The incident occurred in Anbookhaireni area in Chitawan district of Nepal when the bus from Gorakhpur carrying 43 passengers, including the driver and two helpers, was heading towards Kathmandu from Pokhara. While 16 people died on the spot, 11 succumbed to their injuries while undergoing treatment, Deputy Spokesperson of Armed Police Force (APF) Shailendra Thapa told PTI in Kathmandu.

The bodies of 25 deceased from Maharashtra will be airlifted from Nepal and sent to Maharashtra after post-mortem, according to the officials. PTI