UDAYAPUR, Oct 28: The bodies of two of the three passengers who went missing after a Sumo jeep plunged into the Sunkoshi River in Sindhuli while they were returning home from Kathmandu for Dashain have been recovered a week after the accident.
According to the District Police Office, Khotang, the bodies of Hari Furkuti, 30, and Apsara Rai, 22, both residents of Lafyang in Diktel Rupakot Majhuwagadhi Municipality-5, Khotang, were found at separate locations along the riverbank.
Furkuti’s body was recovered on Sunday evening from the Sunkoshi riverbank at Lekhani in Katari Municipality-14, Udayapur. Rai’s body was found on Monday afternoon along the Saptakoshi riverbank in Barahakshetra Municipality-1, Sunsari.
Three persons go missing as jeep plunges into Sunkoshi river (U...
After family members identified the bodies, police began arrangements for postmortem examinations at the District Hospital in Diktel on Tuesday and for handing them over to their families, said Khotang District Police Chief Deputy Superintendent of Police Prakash Khadka.
The third missing passenger, 26-year-old Roshan Kumar Magrati, also from Lafyang, remains unaccounted for. Nepal Police personnel, Armed Police Force divers and family members have continued the search, but he has not yet been found.
The Sumo jeep, with registration number Ko 1 Ja 2076, had left Kathmandu at 9:30 pm on October 17 with nine passengers. At around 3:30 am on October 18, it plunged 200 meters below the road into the river at Nagthan in Fikkal Rural Municipality-6, Sindhuli.
Three passengers reportedly died on the spot while the other three went missing. Those who died on the spot were identified as 21-year-old Yupana Rai and her 19-year-old sister Kavya Rai, both from Chhiwak in Lafyang, and 16-year-old Swastika Bishwakarma of Indrenipokhari in Khotehang Rural Municipality-6, Khotang. Their bodies were recovered from the riverbank below the road.
Four people, including the driver, were injured in the accident and are recovering. Injured passengers Samjhana Rai, 38, of Bamrang in Diktel Rupakot Majhuwagadhi Municipality-3, and her 12-year-old daughter Shivani were airlifted to Kathmandu for treatment.
The driver, Ashish Bishwakarma of Okhaldhunga, and 13-year-old Ankit Bishwakarma, the younger brother of the deceased Swastika, are receiving treatment at Sindhuli Hospital.
