Kathmandu, March 15: A tragic road accident in Nepal‘s Gorkha district on Saturday evening resulted in the deaths of at least seven Indian pilgrims. The incident occurred as the pilgrims were returning from a visit to the Manakamana Temple.
According to police, an electric microbus carrying the pilgrims skidded off the road and fell into a deep gorge in the Kantar area of Sahid Lakhan Rural Municipality.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Raj Kumar Shrestha from the Gorkha District Police Office reported that seven other pilgrims were injured and have been sent to Chitwan Medical College in Bharatpur for treatment. He mentioned that the rescue operation is still ongoing.
Local authorities indicated that there were more than a dozen passengers on the microbus. Gorkha’s Chief District Officer Tulsi Bahadur Shrestha stated that the microbus was heading west from the Manakamana Temple towards the Anbukhaireni area in Tanahun district. However, it remains unclear where the passengers were headed after their temple visit.
Police have not yet determined the cause of the accident, but it is known that the electric microbus crashed on a bend of the hilly road.
This incident follows a similar tragedy in August 2024, when a bus carrying Indian pilgrims in the Anbukhaireni area met with an accident, resulting in the deaths of at least 27 people.
In recent years, Nepal has witnessed an increase in road accidents. According to data from the Nepal Traffic Police, the number of recorded road accidents in the country rose from 4,999 a decade ago to 7,669 in the fiscal year 2024-25.
A report by the World Bank indicates that the economic loss from road accidents in Nepal has tripled since 2007, now accounting for approximately 1.5 percent of the country’s Gross National Product. The report also highlights that vulnerable groups are most affected by road accidents, with over 70 percent of fatalities involving pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists.