MORANG: At least four persons died and 19 others were injured when a bus popped its tyre and hit a motorcycle along the East-West Highway in Morang district, on Wednesday night.

Three of the victims have been identified as motorcyclist Tilak Limbu and pillion rider Devendra Limbu of Letang-3 in Morang, and bus passenger Purushottam Subedi. Identity of the fourth victim, a woman, is yet to be ascertained.

According to the Pathari Area Police Office, the bus (Na 5 Kha 5387) was heading towards Butwal from Kakadbhitta when its tyre went flat, after which it lost control and collided with the motorcycle (Me 4 Pa 8511), coming from the opposite direction, in Chadhore.

Injured include Babita BK, Roshan Mandal, Satan Imbu, Sunita Tudu, Satuwa Heimran, Santosh Majhi, Kishore Chaudhary, Lil Bahadur Bhattarai, Manish Bhattarai, Anish BK, Dilip Mandal, Karanjit Barma, Narayan Bhattarai, Raj Ale, Bijaya Murmu, Anil Rana Magar, Ram Kumar Rai, and Indian nationals Mitrawati Bhattarai and Ishar Ali.