KATHMANDU, Aug 23 (Bernama-dpa) -- At least 27 people have died and 16 were injured after a bus carrying Indian tourists veered off the road and slid down a mountain slope to a riverbank in central Nepal on Friday, police said.
According to senior superintendent of police Rabindra Regmi, the search team has recovered all 43 people who were on board.
“The injured have been airlifted to Kathmandu and are receiving treatment,” Regmi told dpa, adding that all were Indian nationals.
Nepali security forces spent several hours searching and recovering bodies, a task made difficult by the swollen Marsyangdi river after days of monsoon rains.
The bus was en route from Pokhara to Kathmandu when the accident occurred at around 11.30 am (0630 GMT) in Ainpahara, about 130 kilometres south-west of Kathmandu.
The cause of the accident is not immediately clear, but the region has experienced frequent rainfall in recent days, which may have contributed to the incident. Parts of the road have also been under construction.
Earlier, Xinhua news agency reported that 36 people were rescued, with 14 people dead, as the search and rescue mission was ongoing.
-- BERNAMA-dpa
