DADELDHURA: Five persons died and 34 others sustained injuries after the bus they were travelling on veered off the road in Ganyapdhura Rural Municipality-2 in Dadeldhura district in the wee hours today.

According to Dadeldhura District Police Office (DPO), the passenger bus (Na 4 Kha 1831) heading towards Bajhang from Dhangadhi plunged about 150 metres into a brook at the bottom of a ravine at Sokharka along Dadeldhura-Dhangadhi-Bhimdatta road section, killing five on the spot and injuring 34 others aboard the bus including the driver, at around 5:00 am today.

The bus belonging to Karnali River company was carrying a total of 39 people including the driver, police informed.

A joint team of security personnel deployed from the DPO, Bhatkanda-based Area Police Office, Nepal Army, and Armed Police Force carried out the rescue operation.

Identities of the accident victims are yet to be established, police informed.

All the injured were rushed to Dadeldhura Hospital. According to Medical Director at the hospital, Jitendra Kandel, six of the injured who were said to be in critical condition have been referred to Kailali Medical College and Kohalpur Medical College.

Police Inspector at the DPO, Laxman Khadka said the fatal road accident was caused due to overloading of the passenger bus.

He said, acting on the complaint from one of the passengers of the bus due for the journey at 5:00 in the evening, the traffic police in Attariya of Kailali district had forced the bus conductor to unload the overloaded goods.

However, after six hours of delay, the bus reloaded the goods at 11:00 pm and began the journey towards Bajhang.