Kathmandu, Jul 13 (PTI) A body of a 40-year-old Indian national working in Nepal was among three corpses recovered by rescuers on Saturday from the wreckage of two buses that were swept by a mudslide into a rain-swollen river with more than 50 passengers a day earlier.
The two buses carrying 54 passengers, including seven Indians, went missing in the Trishuli River in the landslides at the Simaltal area along the Narayanghat-Mugling road in Chitwan district on Friday. Three people swam to safety later.
The first body from the buses was recovered in the morning from 50 km away from the accident site. The deceased was identified as Rishi Pal Shahi from India, police said.
The body was found half covered by sand in the Narayani River of Chitwan district, police said, adding that he was carrying an Indian ID.
The rescuers in the afternoon recovered two more dead bodies from the Gaindakot area in East Nawalparasi district, police said, adding that both the deceased were Nepali nationals who were missing in the accident.
They were passengers of the bus heading towards Kathmandu from Birgunj, they said.
Besides Shahi, the other missing Indian nationals were identified as Santosh Thakur, Surendra Sah, Adit Miyaan, Sunil, Shahnawaj Alam, and Ansari.
There were 24 people including seven Indian nationals on board a bus heading towards Kathmandu from Birgunj and another bus heading to Gaur from Kathmandu was carrying 30 local people. The two buses fell into the river as the landslide accompanied by muddy water, triggered by heavy rain, swept them away.
According to Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) and Chitwan District Police Office spokesperson Bhesh Raj Rijal, the deceased Indian national was a passenger of the bus which was heading to Gaur from Kathmandu, MyRepublica news portal reported.
Shahi was originally from the Rajmunuwa area of Bihar’s Motihari city and used to live and work in Nepal, the report said, quoting his brother.
More than 500 security personnel, including from the Nepali Army and Nepal Police, along with deep divers were mobilised for the search operation, police said. The security personnel are also using motor boats and drones for the rescue operation, they said.
The Armed Police Force (APF) deployed a water drone to find the missing buses in the Trishuli River, the MyRepublica news portal reported.
DSP Shailendra Thapa, co-spokesperson of APF, said that a search operation has been resumed by using a sonar camera through pipeline inspection.
The search operation was stopped on Friday evening as it was not possible to work during the night with high water current coupled with muddy water, the police official said.
The search operation resumed at 8 am Saturday. Rescuers assisted by divers from Nepal’s security forces resumed the search for the missing persons.
Earlier, it was reported that more than 60 people were on board the two buses.
“All possible locations will be searched and we will put all our best efforts into search and rescue,” Thapa said.
Nepal is one of the world’s most vulnerable countries to the climate crisis and has witnessed multiple extreme weather events over the past decade and a half.
Evidence suggests that maximum temperatures in Nepal are rising faster, at 0.056 degrees Celsius a year, compared to the global average rise of 0.03 degrees Celsius a year, The Kathmandu Post newspaper reported.
Experts say extreme weather events-excessive rainfall in a short period, continuous rains for several days after the monsoon, dry spells, droughts, below-average precipitation, and above-normal winter temperatures-have become more frequent in Nepal.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority estimates that 1.81 million people and 412,000 households will be affected by monsoon this year. PTI SBP NSA SCY AKJ SCY SCY
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.