ARGHAKHANCHI, NOV 08 - At least 17 people died and 11 were seriously injured in a bus accident at Lambhira of Hamsapur VDC, Arghakhanchi district, on Sunday.

The vehicle (Lu 1 Kha 3987) skidded off the road and fell below, police said. The ill-fated bus was heading to Sandhikharka, the district headquarters of Arghakhanchi, from Gokhuwa.

Sixteen passengers died on the spot while one of the injured died on the way to district hospital. According to a local, most of the deceased were residents of Hamsapur and Gokhuwa of the district.

Eleven injured passengers were rushed to Bhairahawa and Butwal of Rupandehi district after receiving primary treatment at Arghakhanchi District Hospital. Dr. Chitra Prasad Sharma Wagle, head at the district hospital, said that six of the injured were in critical condition. 

The accident site is about 30 kilometres west from the district headquarters.

Nepal Police, Nepal Army and the locals reached there immediately after the accident and rescued the injured.

Police Inspector Ramesh Kumar Panthi said the rescue was quite di-fficult as the accident took place on a very difficult terrain. The vehicle fell from the edge of the cliff. The injured were rescued with the help of

ropes.

The bus fell when the recently filled edge of the road slipped, police said. Bus service had resumed along the hilly rural road only last week.

“The vehicle met with a tragic accident just 10 minutes after it started moving,” said Kumar Panthi, an injured in the accident.

A medical team that reached the accident site from Sandhikharka ca-rried out postmortem of the 16 deceased persons. The bodies were handed over to the families fo-llowing the autopsy. The bodies were later cremated en masse near the accident site.

Meanwhile, two students died when a truck hit a motorcycle they were riding at New Road in Pokhara, Kaski district, on Sunday. The victims, both students at Laxmi Higher Secondary School, died on the spot, police said.

The area remained tense for two hours as students and locals hit the street demanding strong action against the guilty and suitable compensation to the victims’ families. The protesters closed the market areas and vandalised five vehicles.

Police lobbed teargas shells to disperse the mob. Police also arrested two local youths who had been calling banda in the aftermath of the accident.

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