Thirty-five killed as bus plunges into river in Nepal
A crowded bus has veered off a mountain highway and into a river in eastern Nepal, killing at least 35 people and leaving many more missing, police said.
Police and army rescuers are on the way to the scene of the accident to help villagers with the rescue operation, police official Rana Bahadur Basnet said.
He said rescuers are struggling to reach the wreckage, in the Sunkosi River near Jhagajholi village, about 150 miles east of Katmandu.
Initial reports from the scene said 35 bodies had been recovered, but an unknown number of people are feared trapped in the wreckage or swept away in the river, Mr Basnet said.
Buses in the country were more crowded than usual because of the end of two-week national festival that sees people return to their jobs from their home villages.
The bus was travelling on the BP Koirala Highway, a narrow route with hairpin bends that in most parts is just wide enough for one vehicle to pass. The site of the accident is a four-hour drive from the nearest city.
Bus accidents in the mountainous Himalayan nation are common and often blamed on poorly maintained vehicles and roads.
