Local people and security personnel reach the incident site to rescue the victims. Photo courtesy: District Police Office

As many as 15 people died in a bus accident at Madi Municipality-6 in Sankhuwasabha district on Thursday.

According to the District Police Office, 14 people died on the spot while one succumbed to injuries during the course of treatment at BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan.
The passenger bus en route to Damak of Jhapa from Okharbote Bazaar in Sankhuwasabha swerved off the road and plunged around 300 metres below at Satghumti in Madi-6. The incident site is about seven kilometres from Okharbote Bazaar.
According to Deputy Superintendent of Police Laldhwaj Subedi, five critically injured people were airlifted to Dharan by a Nepal Army helicopter. One of the injured died while four others are receiving treatment at BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences. There were 19 people on board when the tragic accident took place at around 7:30am.
All the victims who died in the crash have been identified by the police. According to the District Police Office, 12 of the deceased were from Madi Municipality in Sankhuwasabha, two from Taplejung district and the bus driver from Tehrathum district.
Fourteen bodies collected from the incident site have been taken to Primary Health Centre in Chainpur for postmortem.
“Our preliminary investigation shows that the incident occurred as the driver could not control the vehicle in a sharp turn. The vehicle then skidded off the road and fell from a cliff,” said Subedi. The road, which was blacktopped three months ago, is steep and has several turns.
The local people and security personnel of Nepal Police and Armed Police Force reached the incident site after the accident and rescued the victims from the cliff.
“We rescued the injured from the incident site and sent them to Dharan in a chopper. They are receiving treatment at BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences in Dharan,” said Bidur Kumar Lingthep, the mayor of Madi Municipality. “This is the first big road accident in the district and we are all shocked.”