Kathmandu, July 24 (Inditop.com) A pilgrimage to the revered Pashupatinath temple of Nepal turned into a death trap for a group of Indian pilgrims with three dying in an early morning road smash in western Nepal Friday.
A bus, carrying mostly elderly Indian pilgrims, collided with another bus coming from the opposite direction in Gaidakot town in western Nepal’s Nawalparasi district around 2.30 a.m., killing three passengers and injuring 20 more.
Ram Shankar Pandey, a 96-year-old man from Satna town in Madhya Pradesh, and his wife, 90-year-old Sita Devi, died in the accident.
While they died in Bharatpur Medical College and Hospital in Chitwan district in southern Nepal, a third passenger — Phulmoti Soni from Bhopal — died on the spot.
Twenty other passengers — 16 Indians and four Nepalis — were injured and taken to the hospital for treatment.
While most of them were discharged after preliminary treatment, four have been admitted to the hospital, its official Himnath Ghimire said.
They are the 29-year-old driver of the bus carrying a Madhya Pradesh licence plate, Suresh Kushahawa, Shyamlal Sahni, 48, Shanti Gautam, 77, and Ram Naresh Daiya, 83.
The bus had left from Madhya Pradesh 29 days earlier.
With the current monsoon month regarded as the best time to worship the Hindu god Shiva, the group went to the Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu by road.
They were heading for the Indian town of Gorakhpur Friday to cross the India-Nepal border and return to Madhya Pradesh when the accident occurred.
Travelling by road in Nepal is becoming increasingly dangerous due to the mounting number of accidents.
A number of foreign governments in their travel advisories caution especially against travelling by road during night.
The bodies have been taken to the government hospital in Bharatpur for post mortem, Ghimire said.
