Rescuers in Nepal have recovered a total of 11 bodies from a river that two buses full of people were swept into by a landslide, officials said yesterday.
Rescuers found the bodies in different spots along the riverbank as they searched for the missing buses and about 50 people who were on board.
Nepalese government administrator Khima Nanda Bhusal said seven bodies were identified and relatives contacted. Three of the dead were Indians and the remaining four were Nepalese.
Photo: AFP
He said four more bodies were also recovered from the river, but because they have not been identified it was unclear if they had been on board the buses.
“We will continue the search as long as it is needed and have no plans to give up. We will work until all of them are found,” he said.
The buses were on the key highway connecting Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, to southern parts of the nation when they were swept away on Friday morning near Simaltal, about 120km west of Kathmandu. Three people were ejected from the buses and were being treated in a nearby hospital.
The first body was recovered on Sunday about 50km from where the buses fell. Other bodies were recovered from as far as near the border with India. Two of them were found in Tribeni, more than 100km from the landslide site, officials said.
Relatives of those missing gathered at the river seeking information as rescuers from the security forces used magnets, scuba diving equipment and underwater sonar imaging devices for the search.
Nepal’s rivers generally are fast-flowing due to the mountainous terrain. Heavy monsoon downpours in the past few days have swollen the waterways and turned them murky brown, making it even more difficult to see the wreckage.
Weather conditions improved on Saturday and search teams were able to cover more ground in the hunt for the missing buses and passengers. Heavy equipment cleared much of the landslide from the highway, making it easier to reach the area as rescuers expanded their scope toward the southern region from where the first body was found, Bhusal said.
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