29 people have died and 60 have been injured when a bus heading to Kailali from Doti district met with an accident at Katpatte area of Budar-Jorayal road on Monday afternoon.

The bus with registration number Na 3 Kha 5707 skidded off some 250 meters down the road at around 3 pm at a sharp bend at Katpatte of Chhatiwan VDC-5 in Doti and plunged into the Katpate riverbank.

According to police, the vehicle was carrying three times more weight than its capacity and that the road was not in a good shape as it had reopened just three days ago after being disrupted during the monsoon.

The Doti district police have so far identified 18 deceased as Krishna Malla, Rajendra Shahi, Bhumiraj Bhandari, Harish Kathayat, Sakuntala Malla, Dan Bahadur Saud, Tekraj Bhatta, Dambari Joshi, Pashupati Bhatt, Krishna Raj Bhandari, Shanti Malla, Indra Malla, Bhagrath Baduwal and Tekendra Giri, Chakra BK, Karna Shahi and Laxman Thakurathi.

The deceased are aged between 20 to 50 years, except for Shanti Kandel who was just three years old.

Till the time of filing this story, 62 injured have been rescued and admitted to various nursing homes in Attariya of Kailali and Seti Zonal Hospital of Dhangadi for treatment. At least 100 people were traveling on the bus, according to the police.