Prithvi Highway Disaster: Passenger Bus Plunges 150 Meters Into Raging Trishuli River, Eight Dead

Kathmandu, Nepal—A long-distance passenger bus skidded off a notoriously narrow stretch of the Prithvi Highway early Tuesday morning, plunging more than 150 meters down a vertical gorge into the raging Trishuli River and killing at least eight people. The devastating transit accident occurred at approximately 7:45 a.m. near a sharp, unbarricaded curve heavily affected by recent soil erosion. Emergency response teams arriving at the riverbank found the midsection of the vehicle completely submerged in the swift, muddy alpine currents.

A joint rescue task force comprising the Nepal Army, Armed Police Force, and local rafters deployed rubber dinghies and specialized underwater recovery teams to pull survivors from the wreckage. By Tuesday afternoon, emergency workers had recovered eight bodies from the riverbed and crushed cabin structure. Another twelve passengers were rescued alive from the lower slopes of the rocky ravine and rushed to nearby medical facilities in critical condition, while an unknown number remain missing in the high-volume river currents.

Preliminary reports from highway traffic police indicate that the bus was traveling at a high rate of speed while navigating a blind corner when it encountered an oncoming freight truck. In an attempt to avoid a head-on collision on the single-lane asphalt strip, the bus operator swerved aggressively toward the shoulder. The unstable gravel edge gave way under the heavy vehicle's weight, causing it to roll repeatedly down the cliff face before smashing into the rocky riverbed below.

The Prithvi Highway, which serves as the primary logistical artery connecting Kathmandu with the western plains and tourist hubs, is widely considered one of Nepal's most hazardous roads due to its steep drop-offs, lack of structural crash barriers, and high commercial traffic volume. Safety advocates have repeatedly lobbied the Department of Roads to install heavy steel guardrails along the river corridors, but implementation has been slow across the mountainous terrain.

Local authorities face immense logistical hurdles in extracting the remaining bus chassis from the Trishuli River due to the rising water levels fueled by early mountain snowmelt. Heavy-duty crane vehicles dispatched from a neighboring district have been unable to anchor securely along the fragile highway shoulder to lift the vehicle out of the gorge. Divers are currently performing dangerous sweeps inside the submerged cabin to check for additional trapped victims.

The District Administration Office has launched a formal investigation into the crash to determine whether mechanical failure or operator negligence contributed to the tragedy. Surviving passengers stated that the bus appeared to be carrying passengers well over its designated seating capacity, a common issue on long-distance rural routes. The driver of the bus reportedly fled the scene immediately following the plunge and is currently being tracked by local police tracking units.

Traffic along the Prithvi Highway was suspended for several hours as emergency vehicles occupied both lanes to coordinate the technical rescue operations, stranding thousands of daily commuters and tourist vans. Short single-lane windows were opened periodically by traffic police late Tuesday afternoon to ease the immense gridlock stretching back for kilometers along the ridge line.

The names of the eight identified casualties are being held by the local police precinct pending verification against the official passenger manifest and direct family notification. Hospital authorities confirmed that three of the twelve rescued survivors are undergoing emergency neurological surgery due to severe skull fractures and internal bleeding sustained during the violent descent.