Several tourists from Maharashtra killed as bus plunges into Nepal river

Mumbai: Several tourists from Maharashtra are feared killed and others injured after a bus plunged into Marsyangdi river in Tanahun district of Nepal on Friday, according to information reaching here.

The bus with 41 passengers, mostly from Maharashtra’s Jalgaon district, was plying from the tourist resort of Pokhara to the Nepal capital Kathmandu when it fell into a river on Friday morning.

Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that “some devotees from Maharashtra” were killed in the bus tragedy and several others were injured.

As per preliminary information, there were around 41 passengers, of which 14 were killed in the accident and around 17 others injured, some seriously, besides 11 more who are still missing.

The state government is in constant contact with the Nepal Embassy in Delhi and the Jalgaon Collector is maintaining touch with the Collector of Maharajganj in Uttar Pradesh, which is on the India-Nepal border.

It is learnt that a couple of officials from the Maharajganj Collectorate had proceeded to the border to render help, as the bus had a Uttar Pradesh registration number.

Fadnavis added that the Maharashtra government is in touch with the Uttar Pradesh government and the Nepal authorities to bring back the bodies of the deceased persons from this state back home.

Besides the Maharashtra Disaster Management, state Ministers Girish Mahajan and Anil Patil are also coordinating the operations to bring back the Indians who perished in the bus disaster, the exact causes of which are not yet clear.

Patil said that the Nepal police as well as the army are also engaged in the rescue operations mounted there, while the injured victims have been admitted to nearby hospitals, though more information, including the identity of the victims, is not available yet.

IANS