Kathmandu, Jul 17: The bodies of 19 passengers from the two buses that went missing in the Trishuli River after a landslide last Friday at Simaltal on the Narayangadh-Muglin road under Bharatpur Municipal Corporation-29 in Chitwan have been found. According to the Armed Police Force of Nepal, 14 of the bodies have been identified, while the remaining five are yet to be identified.

Co-spokesperson of the Armed Police Force, Shailendra Thapa, has informed that the search for the remaining passengers is ongoing. “Among those identified today are Rishipal Sah from India, Vikas Pariyar from Chitwan Madi, Ramit Kushar Majhi from Sarlahi, Jaiprakash Thakur from India, Sajad Ansari from India, Sudip Vick from Chitwan Bharatpur, Parmanand Pandit from Bara, Kishore Kumar Chaudhary from Chandranigapur, Rishi Kumar Singh, Vivek Kumar of India, Jitendraram Mahara of Sarlahi, Chandraprabha Kumari of Parsa, and Amrita Kumari of Rautahat,” he said. The identities of five other men are yet to be determined.

The tragedy occurred last Friday morning when an Angel Deluxe bus (Bagmati Province No. 03-006 Bh 1516) traveling from Birganj to Kathmandu and a Ganapati Deluxe bus (Bagmati Province No. 03-001 Bh 2495) going from Kathmandu to Gaur were swept into the Trishuli River by a landslide at Simaltal. There were 65 passengers on the two buses. Nandan Das, Jugeshwar Yadav, and Saroj Kumar Gupta from Rautahat survived by jumping off the bus.