Indian team arrives with equipment for search operation

KATHMANDU, July 20: The search for two missing buses and their passengers in Simaltal in Narayanghat-Mugling section under Bharatpur Metropolitan City-29 in Chitwan is still ongoing.

On Saturday, a ten-person team from India, equipped with special search equipment, will arrive at the Simaltal accident site to help search for the bus and its passengers.

Buses with registration number Ba Pra 03-006 Kha 1516, travelling from Birgunj to Kathmandu, and another bus with registration number Ba Pra 03-001 Kha 2459, travelling from Kathmandu to Gaur, were swept away by a landslide and disappeared in the Trishuli River.

There were 65 passengers on board the two buses that plunged into the Trishuli river following the landslide on July 12. Three of the passengers managed to save themselves by swimming. Of the 62 missing passengers, 23 bodies have been found so far.

Fifteen of the dead have been identified. Nine bodies, including eight men and one woman, have not yet been identified. The bodies were found in Golaghat, Salabas and Siswar in Chitwan, Gaindakot in Nawalpur, Bhutaha, Triveni Dam and other places along the coast near the accident site.