At least 14 people were killed after a passenger bus with an Indian registered number plunged into the Marsyangdi River in central Nepal on Friday, according to media reports.
The bus with an Uttar Pradesh registration was headed to Gorakhpur from Pokhara via Kathmandu when it drove off the highway at Aaina Pahara in Tanahun district.
Around 14 persons were confirmed dead and 29 passengers were rescued from the wreckage of the bus with the number plate UP 53 FT 7623.
Information Officer at the District Police Office, Tanahu, Mohan Bahadur Khan said 29 people had been sent to a hospital. No health updates were given.
A team of 45 Armed Police Force personnel led by Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Madhav Paudel from the Armed Police Force Nepal Disaster Management Training School had reached the accident site and was carrying out the rescue operation, media reports said.
About 35 APF personnel from no 23 Battalion, Bhanu, Tanahun, are also involved in the rescue operation, the report said.
According to DSP Dipak Kumar Raya, spokesperson of the District Police Office, Tanahun, the bus fell into Marsyangdi at around 11.30 am on Friday.
Last month, two buses carrying 65 passengers were washed away by a landslide into the swollen Trishuli River in Nepal, with floodwaters carrying the bodies as far as 100 km.
Bodies of some passengers and the buses are yet to be located despite search operations, including the deployment of a 12-member team from India's National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).
Nepal's rivers are generally fast-flowing due to the mountainous terrain. Heavy monsoon downpours in the past few days have meant muddy waters, which make tracing wreckage and bodies difficult.
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