Month day of Simaltal accident: Search operation continues

The team of Nepali security personnel has continued the second phase of search from the same day. "We are regularly monitoring Trishuli river from Kerabari, which is a little below Simaltal, to Bhorle area where the accident took place. A team of 11 people has been assigned to it," said Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Madhav Paudel, Commander of the Disaster Management Training School in Chitwan Kurintar of the Armed Police.

He said that the diving team has been kept ready in the 17th division of the armed police in Narayangarh Anptari. He informed that the team of Nawalparasi had monitored Narayani area till Triveni. With the Bhel flood, the river bank changes a bit. At this time, sand dunes are visible. We are looking a little below the accident site to see if some remains of the bus can be found, said SSP Paudel.

Narayangadh-Muglin road, Bharatpur Metropolitan City-29, Simaltal area, Sinduregaira, two passenger buses fell from the road and fell into Trishuli river at around 3:30 am on Friday, June 28th. Three passengers of one of the two buses reached the river but saved their lives by swimming on their own. Both the buses and the rest of the passengers went missing in Trishuli.

During the search, 25 bodies were found from the banks of the Narayani river and Triveni and even further down from the Indian territory. Bodies were also found 107 kilometers below the accident site. However, it has been confirmed that only 19 bodies found were passengers of the two buses involved in the accident. To study the issue of Simaltal accident, the government formed a working group under the coordination of the joint secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Chabi Rizal. The

task force submitted its report on Tuesday, July 22. The details of how many passengers were on the bus have changed from time to time. Two days after the incident, on Sunday, June 30, the information released by the Chitwan District Administration Office stated that there were 65 passengers on the bus, three of them were safe and the rest of the passengers escaped with the bus. In the report of the study task force, it is mentioned that there were a total of 62 passengers in the bus.

Among the accident victims, there are 36 people in the Ganpati Transport bus number 03-001 B 2495 coming from Kathmandu to Gaur to Bharatpur and 26 people in the Angel bus No. 03-006 B 1516 going to Kathmandu from Viganj, totaling 62 passengers. . Out of these, only three passengers of the Ganapathi Transport bus were safe.

The study team concluded that due to the rural road built above the Narayangadh-Muglin road, the accumulated Ledo and Gregan in Sinduregaira flowed down the road after excessive rain. It is mentioned in the working group's report that the Bharatpur Metropolitan Municipality did not pay attention to the overall environmental aspect while constructing the rural roads, and the Divisional Road Office of Bharatpur did not pay attention to cleaning the culvert blocked by landslides.

Similarly, the report mentions that the driver did not assess the risk due to the lack of an information system about the risk of the road, and the security personnel did not consider it necessary to stop the vehicle. It is also written in the report that the driver who drives a car during heavy rains at night on dangerous roads should pay attention to the fact that safety is the first issue. The

task force has recommended to implement the issue of having to take the consent of the road department in the Public Roads Act 2031 when opening the tracks of auxiliary roads that go above the highway. It has also suggested that various tools, equipment and modern technology should be available to make search and rescue time-friendly.

The recommendation of the committee is that it is necessary to map the rivers properly after the rains. Technicians from India's National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) came with technology to search after the accident. The Indian team that came to Chitwan on July 5 started the search from the next day. But when the Indian team returned on July 13 when nothing was found, Chief District Officer of Chitwan Indradev Yadav said that the second phase of search will continue until another decision is made.