Simaltal bus accident: Next to kin demand to make search effective

Simaltal bus accident: Next to kin demand to make search effective

Bharatpur, July 13: The families of those who have gone missing in the accident that led to two passenger buses plunging into the Trishuli river in Chitwan have demanded that the search be made more effective. They have requested the concerned authorities to mobilize all the forces using the necessary technology and tools to search for their loved ones.

Two passenger buses including one heading to Gaur from Kathmandu (03-001 Kha. 2495) and another going to Kathmandu from Birgunj (03-006 Kha. 1516) were swept away by landslides into the Trishuli river on Friday morning at Simaltal, falling under Bharatpur metropolis-29.

Vikesh Kumar Patel of Gaur in Rautahat, who came to Chitwan on Friday after his grandfather was one among those in the ill-fated bus, said that the family and the village were in a state of mourning following the accident.

Likewise, Ramesh Kumar Patel from Rautahat also came to Chitwan on Friday looking for his cousin in the bus. He said that he had reserved an ambulance but the hope of finding him alive was fading. Patel said, “If we could only find his body, we would return home. There is no other hope."

Meanwhile, chairperson of Parasouni Rural Municipality in Bara, Binod Prasad Jaiswal, complained about the delay in the search for the missing persons. In the accident scene after finding out that his two neighbors were in the bus, Jaiwal complained that the state, which uses all the mechanisms in the case of helicopter and aircraft accidents, did not pay much attention to bus accidents.

Saying that more than fifty families are suffering, he requested the concerned authorities to mobilize all mechanisms of the state to find them soon.

Chief District Officer of Chitwan Indradev Yadav said that all the trained groups of Nepal Army, Armed Police and Nepal Police were on duty throughout the day on Friday. "However, the flow and current of water in the river has not decreased. Hence, we were forced to postponed the search on Friday night, which has resumed this morning", he said.

The bus headed to Gaur was carrying 27 passengers while 24 people were aboard the bus going to Kathmandu from Birgunj. Among them, three people have survived miraculously by swimming out of the flooded river.