KATHMANDU, July 12, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - At least 63 people were missing in
Nepal on Friday after a landslide triggered by heavy monsoon rains swept two
buses off a highway and plunged them into a river, authorities said.

Dozens of search and rescue personnel were combing the site for survivors of
the accident in the central district of Chitwan, district official Khimananda
Bhusal told AFP.

Bhusal said that the buses were carrying at least 66 people between them but
three passengers had been able to swim and escape as they crashed into the
Trishuli river and were now being treated in hospital.

"We are not sure of the total number because the buses could have picked up
others on the road," he said.

"The river has swollen and no one else has been found yet," he added.

Bhusal said that the survivors were out of danger and one had been discharged
from the hospital.

The force of the landslide pushed the buses over concrete crash barriers and
down a steep embankment into the waterway, at least 30 metres (100 feet) from
the road.

Search and rescue teams on rafts gathered on the riverbank were struggling to
scour the muddy waterway due to fierce currents made worse by the rains.

Hours after the search began, they had yet to find any trace of the vehicles
or their remaining occupants.

"The teams are trying but river's flow is very strong. They have not found
anything yet," police spokesman Kumar Neupane told AFP.

The accident took place before dawn along the Narayanghat-Mugling highway,
around 100 kilometres (60 miles) west of the capital Kathmandu.

One bus was heading from Kathmandu to Gaur in Rautahat district in southern
Nepal and the other was en route to the capital from southern Birgunj.

A driver was killed in a separate accident on the same road after a boulder
hit his bus. He died as he was being treated at a hospital.

- 'Deeply saddened' -

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal said he was "deeply saddened" by the
accident in a post on social media platform X.

"I direct all agencies of the government, including the home administration,
to search for and effectively rescue the passengers," he said.

Deadly crashes are common in the Himalayan republic because of poorly
constructed roads, badly maintained vehicles and reckless driving.

Nearly 2,400 people lost their lives on Nepal's roads in the 12 months to
April, according to government figures.

Twelve people were killed and 24 were injured in an accident in January when
a bus heading to Kathmandu from Nepalgunj fell into a river.

Road travel becomes deadlier during the annual monsoon season as rains
trigger landslides and floods across the mountainous republic.

Monsoon rains across South Asia from June to September offer respite from the
summer heat and are crucial to replenishing water supplies, but also bring
widespread death and destruction.

The rainfall is hard to forecast and varies considerably, but scientists say
climate change is making the monsoon stronger and more erratic.

Floods, landslides and lightning strikes have killed 88 people across the
country since the monsoon began in June, according to police figures.