Bus falls into river in Nepal, 27 pilgrims from Maharashtra die

Confirming the 27 deaths, the Indian embassy in Kathmandu in a post on X said: “Remaining 16 passengers have been airlifted to Kathmandu for further treatment at TU (Tribhuvan University) Teaching Hospital. Embassy mourns the loss of lives & prays for early recovery of the injured.”

Security force personnel rescue an injured passenger. (Reuters photo)

Security personnel engaged in the search and rescue operation said that 19 people died on the spot. Three more were declared dead in a nearby hospital. Two bodies were extricated by divers from inside the bus.

The passengers were from Bhusawal tehsil of Maharashtra’s Jalgaon district. They were among 80 people from four villages — Varangaon, Talvel, Aachegaon and Pimpalgaon – who had left on a pilgrimage to Ayodhya, Prayagraj and Nepal on August 16 and were scheduled to return on August 28.

Sunil Kale, a villager from Varangaon, told The Indian Express, “A total of 80 people from these villages had gone on a pilgrimage in two different buses. There were 41 people in the bus that met with the accident.”

Sources said the pilgrims reached Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh from where they hired two buses to reach Pokhara on Wednesday. After two days’ stay in the resort town, they left for Kathmandu, around 200 km away, Friday morning. On the way, around noon, one of the buses met with the accident.

Samadhan Chaudhary, another villager, said that among the dead were two former corporators of Varangaon — Sudhakar Gawade and his wife Rohini – and five of their relatives.

“I spoke to Sudhakar on Thursday. They told me that it was raining heavily in Nepal. He had called to wish me on my birthday and they all were very happy. And suddenly we got to know about this news. It is shocking for all of us,” said Chaudhary.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis expressed condolences over the incident.

Shinde spoke to Union Home Minister Amit Shah and senior officials about bringing home the bodies of the dead. According to a statement released by the CMO, Shah told Shinde that a special officer has been appointed for coordination and a special IAF aircraft will be provided to bring the bodies back.

“The bodies will be brought from Nepal to Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh. From there they will be brought to Nashik by Air Force aircraft. After that, the bodies will be handed over to the families,” the statement said.

“We are also coordinating with the Uttar Pradesh government and Nepalese authorities to repatriate the bodies of the deceased back to Maharashtra,” Fadnavis said in a post on X.