KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — An overcrowded bus en route to Nepal’s capital veered off a mountain highway in Nepal early Monday, killing 19 people, including a British national, and injuring 25 others.
Dozens of people were on board the bus, which was heading from the resort of Pokhara to Kathmandu, when it veered off the Prithvi Expressway after midnight, police said. The bus went down a mountainside and landed on the banks of the Trishuli River near Benighat, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) west of the capital, Kathmandu.
A 24-year-old British national was among those who died, according to a statement from the Dhading District Police Office. Only nine bodies were identified.
The injured included a Chinese national who is being treated at the National Trauma Center in Kathmandu and a 27-year-old New Zealand woman who suffered minor injuries and was treated at a local hospital. China’s official news agency Xinhua, citing the Chinese embassy in Nepal, had earlier reported that one more Chinese national was missing.
Rescuers arrived at the scene soon after the accident and the injured were pulled from the wreckage and taken to hospitals for treatment, said government administrator Mohan Prasad Neupane.
The police are investigating the cause of the accident.
Bus accidents in Nepal are common, mostly due to poorly maintained roads and vehicles. Much of the Himalayan country is covered by mountains and only narrow roads connect them.
The bus landed on the bank of a fast flowing mountain river. Two buses with 65 people on board fell into the same river in 2024 and were lost, with most either killed or still missing. The wreckage of one of the buses was only found buried deep in the sand this year.
