- author, Tessa Wong and BBC Nepali
- role, BBC News
In Nepal, rescue teams are searching for more than 60 people missing after a massive landslide swept two buses into a river.
Several described terrifying experiences, with one person saying they were “thrown out of a bus window into the river.”
Only three people are believed to have survived the accident, which happened early Friday morning.
Officials said the landslide was caused by heavy rains.
Nepal, like the rest of South Asia, is in the middle of monsoon season and has been hit by heavy rains in recent weeks, causing floods and landslides that have affected millions of people.
The accident happened at 3:30 a.m. local time on Friday (9:45 p.m. GMT) along the Narayanghat-Mugling highway in Chitwan, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the capital Kathmandu.
Survivor Nandan Das told BBC Nepali the bus had been travelling for about an hour and a half when “suddenly it started rolling into the river. I thought I was going to die.”
He said he managed to swim to safety despite it being a “very dark night” and “there were a lot of big rocks and leaves in the river.”
“We kept swimming and swimming, chanting God’s name, and God saved us.
“I wasn’t sure if I was swimming towards the river or into the river, but I finally got to the bank and started to climb up the slope.”
He and another survivor reached the highway at the same time and were soon joined by a third. They managed to get help from the driver and called police.
Another survivor, Jogeshwar Raya, described the bus “shake and overturned four or five times before falling into the river.”
He managed to swim off the bus, but his family is still missing.
“My son, daughter-in-law, grandson and granddaughter were on the same bus. Of the five members of my family, I am the only one who survived, the rest are missing,” he said.
Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal called on all government agencies to join the search and rescue efforts.
Dozens of people are estimated to have died this monsoon season, with major highways blocked and bridges washed away by swollen rivers.
Authorities have urged residents in Nepal’s southeast to be vigilant as water levels in the Kosi River, which flows through Nepal and India, have risen above danger levels.
Fatal accidents are also common in Nepal due to poorly maintained roads and reckless driving.
Image source, Nepal National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority / Handout
