DHADING: At least 18 persons were killed and scores injured when a bus they were travelling in met with an accident at Marpak-5 of Dhading district in central Nepal on Tuesday.

At least 15 persons were rescued from the accident site. Some of them were airlifted to Kathmandu by a chopper for treatment later.*

The ill-fated bus (Ba 3 Kha 3318) was heading towards Kintangphedi from Dhadingbesi-2 when the incident occurred at around 11:30 am.

It has been learned that the bus fell some 300 metres down the road.

According to an eyewitness, the bus was jam-packed with passengers travelling on its roof also. The number of passengers, however, was immediately not known.

The victims are yet to be identified.

But it has been learned that most of the passengers on board the bus were the Nepal earthquake survivors who had come Dhadingbesi to collect funds relief money distributed by the government. *

*Updated at 2:30 pm