Scores missing as Nepal landslide sweeps two buses into river
The buses were carrying at least 66 people between them but three passengers had been able to escape before they crashed into the waterway.
![Road travel becomes deadlier in Nepal during the monsoon season as rains trigger landslides and floods. / Photo: AFP Road travel becomes deadlier in Nepal during the monsoon season as rains trigger landslides and floods. / Photo: AFP](https://images-cdn.trtworld.com/trtworld/w664/h374/q70/20385877_0-264-2551-1436.jpeg)
Road travel becomes deadlier in Nepal during the monsoon season as rains trigger landslides and floods. / Photo: AFP
More than 60 people are missing in Nepal after a landslide triggered by heavy rains swept two buses off a highway and into a river, authorities have said.
Dozens of search and rescue personnel were combing the site for survivors of the accident in the central district of Chitwan, district official Khimananda Bhusal said on Friday.
Bhusal said that the buses were carrying at least 66 people between them but three passengers had been able to escape before they crashed into the waterway and were now being treated in hospital.
"We are not sure of the total number because the buses could have picked up others on the road," he said.
"The river has swollen and no one else has been found yet."
The accident took place along the Narayanghat-Mugling highway, around 100 kilometres (60 miles) west of the capital Kathmandu
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal expressed sadness over the accident in a post on social media platform X.
"I direct all agencies of the government, including the home administration, to search for and effectively rescue the passengers," he said.
Deadly crashes are relatively common in the Himalayan nation because of poor roads , badly maintained vehicles and reckless driving.
Road travel becomes deadlier during monsoon season as rains trigger landslides and floods.