DHANGADHI: While many across the country were celebrating Maghe Sankranti, villagers in Geta VDC have been mourning the deaths of their loved ones in a road accident in Mohanpur, Kailali, yesterday. Mother of deceased Dhirendra Dhami lamented, "My son had just gone out to get some meat but did not return." A witness, Jayaraj Joshi said that Raju Tamang and Dhirendra both were riding bicycles when the jeep hit them. Deceased Dhami was a fifth grader in Saraswati Higher Secondary School in Geta.

According to relatives of another deceased, Bamadev Joshi, Joshi was returning from his brother's house when the jeep ran him down. In the accident, one Madaru Choudhari also lost his life. Choudhari's son Khusiram said, "We are in a great trouble after the death of the sole bread-earner as our mother is disabled."

Meanwhile, locals argue that the accident happened due to drunk driving. They said that the jeep hit everyone on the road at that moment. The Seti Zonal Hospital maintained that it was yet to verify if the driver was drunk. According to the police, driver Shrestha had come to Dhangadhi to repair the vehicle. Kishor Sharma of a repair centre said, "Shrestha had set off at 4 pm after repairing the vehicle. He used to get drunk earlier too." The police, however, did not comment further on the reason for the accident. DSP Udaya Kumar Tamang said that they could draw conclusions only after autopsy reports were available.