An Indian Air Force aircraft has airlifted 25 bodies of Indian pilgrims who died in a tragic road accident in Western Nepal on Friday. The military aircraft, which took off from West Bengal, India, landed at Bharatpur city in Chitwan district, close to Tanahun district, where the accident occurred. The Indian-registered bus veered off the road and crashed into a river basin, killing a total of 27 people.
The 25 bodies airlifted were from the Aanbu Khaireni bus accident. Two bodies, those of the bus driver and his assistant, were transported by road to Gorakhpur, their hometown. The remaining 25 bodies were flown back to Maharashtra, with the aircraft scheduled to land in Mumbai later in the evening. Indradev Yadav, Chief District Officer of Chitwan, confirmed that the autopsies had been completed at Bharatpur Hospital before the bodies were handed over to Indian authorities for transportation.
Union Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports, Raksha Nikhil Khadse, and Maharashtra legislator Sanjay Shubhakar arrived in Nepal on Saturday morning to assess the condition of the injured Indian nationals. They returned on the same aircraft that carried the deceased. Khadse visited the 16 injured individuals receiving treatment at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu and met with Nepal’s Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak. She received updates on the rescue operation and thanked the Nepal government for its prompt and effective assistance. Khadse also expressed appreciation for the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu for its coordination with Nepalese authorities.
The accident occurred when the bus, en route from Pokhara to Kathmandu, skidded off the road at Ainapahara in ward 2 of Anbukhaireni Rural Municipality and plunged about 150 meters into the Marsyangdi River at around 11:30 a.m. (local time). According to Deputy Superintendent of Police Santosh Paudel of the District Traffic Police Office, Tanahun, 26 people died at the crash site, and one additional victim succumbed to injuries at Old Medical College in Chitwan.
The accident has brought significant attention to the safety of road travel and has prompted international coordination for the recovery and treatment of those affected.