Nepal Recovers First Body from Buses Swept Away by Landslide

AFP/APP

Bharatpur: Nepali rescue teams on Saturday recovered the first body from around 50 people missing after monsoon rains triggered a landslide that swept two buses off a highway and into a river.

The force of Friday’s landslide in the central Chitwan district pushed the vehicles over concrete crash barriers and down a steep embankment, at least 30 meters (100 feet) from the road.

“One body has been found about 55 kilometers (35 miles) from the accident site,” police spokesman Kumar Neupane told AFP.

District official Khimananda Bhusal told AFP that roughly 50 people remained unaccounted for, revising down the number of missing from the 63 reported by authorities on Friday.

“It is hard to confirm the total number because we don’t know if the buses stopped to add or remove passengers along the way,” he said.