36 Indian pilgrims killed in Nepal bus accident

Kathmandu: At least 36 Indians were among 40 pilgrims killed when an overcrowded bus plunged into an irrigation canal on the Gandak river in the Nepalese district of Nawalparasi bordering Uttar Pradesh on Sunday, the police here said. 

    The Indians were from Maharajgunj in UP and Dhulinipul in Bihar, according to the Indian embassy. 
    The pilgrims were travelling to Triveni, a confluence of 
three rivers, for a dip during the holy month of Shravan. Among the dead were 10 women and one child, said deputy superintendent of police Ram Dutta Joshi on the phone from Nawalparasi. The canal on the Gandak is close to Parasi town near the India-Nepal border. Triveni, where the pilgrims were headed, is around 100km from Kathmandu. 
    The number of passengers on the bus was not known, Joshi said, but unconfirmed reports put the figure at 75. When the bus veered off the highway into the canal there were reportedly many people sitting on the roof. 
15 die in J&K Fifteen Amarnath pilgrims were killed as a J&K bus plunged into a gorge on its way back from the cave shrine on Sunday. The driver reportedly lost control as the road was slippery after a downpour. At least 18 people were critically injured. P 9 HP bus plunge kills 10 In another similar incident, eight pilgrims were killed as a bus fell into a 250-feet deep gorge in Himachal Pradesh's Kangra district on Sunday. At least 35 of the devotees who were returning from Amarnath and Vaishno Devi shrines were injured. P 9 Driver lost control on slippery road 
Kathmadu: At least 36 Indian pilgrims have been killed as a bus fell into a Canal in Nepal. 
    Indian authorities, including officials of the west Gandak irrigation and Seema Suraksha Bal, are involved in the rescue efforts. 
    Seventeen people have been saved so far and are being treated at a hospital in Nawalparasi. 
    Agencies reported that the bus driver lost control as the road had turned slippery because of rainfall. Another officer, Deepak Raya, said the bus got fully submerged in the river. 
    A statement from the external affairs ministry in Delhi said most Indian victims had gone to attend the Bolbum festival in Triveni. Officials feared the toll could go up. 
    India has set up an information centre at the embassy here and officials can be contacted at 00-977-1-4412125 and 4411699 (extension 4109). 
    A special team of doctors left from India for the accident site to help Nepalese authorities in relief and rescue operations, the embassy said in the statement. The Nepal army and police personnel along with local residents were involved in rescue works.

People gather near a bus that fell into an irrigation canal carrying Hindu pilgrims near the pilgrimage site of Triveni, 100 km southwest of Kathmandu, in Nawalparasi on Sunday. At least 35 pilgrims, most of them from India, were killed in the accident