Indian Rescue Team Joins Search for Missing Passengers in Nepal

An Indian rescue team has arrived in Nepal to search for passengers and buses swept away by the swollen Trishuli River after a landslide. The 12-member team, including four divers, will assist in the search operation for seven days. So far, 24 bodies have been recovered from various locations.

A 12-member team of rescue personnel from India arrived in Nepal on Saturday to search for several passengers, including seven from India, and two buses that went missing in a swollen river last week.

The team arrived in Chitwan upon the request of Nepali authorities who sought assistance from India to carry out the operation in search of the buses that swept in Trishuli River after a landslide hit the region on July 12.

As many as 19 bodies were recovered after the buses carrying 65 passengers met with casualty along the Narayanghat-Muglin road section and were swept away by the Trishuli River.

Three of the passengers somehow managed to get outside the bus and swam to the bank.

According to Chitwan's Chief District Officer Indradev Yadav, the Indian team entered Nepal through the Sunauli border point on Saturday and after being briefed on the incident immediately went to the Disaster Management Training School of the Armed Police Force at Kurintar.

The team then went to Simaltal, the incident site, and started the search operation which is about 23 kilometres from Narayanghat, Kathmandu Post newspaper quoted the official as saying.

Twelve personnel from India's National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), who are trained in the rescue and search operations, will be deployed for a search operation for seven days, said Yadav.

The team, which includes four divers, have arrived with the necessary devices including three sonar cameras.

Rescue and search teams from the Nepal Army, Nepal Police and Armed Police Force (APF) have been searching the wreckage of buses and the passengers since the day of the incident with little success so far.

Of the 62 passengers swept away along with the buses, 24 bodies have been recovered from various locations in Nepal and also from the Indian side.

However, only 15 of the bodies have been confirmed to be passengers of the missing buses.

At least four of the recovered bodies were of Indians, sources here said.

The authorities have used high-quality sonar cameras, powerful magnets and water drones to assist in the rescue works.

The bodies from the two buses were washed away down the Trishuli River as far as 100 kilometres.

A task force formed by the Home Ministry is investigating the incident, officials from the ministry said.

Nepal's rivers are generally fast-flowing due to the mountainous terrain. Heavy monsoon downpours in the past few days have swollen the waterways and turned them murky brown, making it even more difficult to see the wreckage.

Monsoon season brings heavy rains to Nepal from June to September, often triggering landslides in the mountainous Himalayan country.

(With inputs from agencies.)