Surkhet, June 19

A day after a jeep veered off the road and fell into the Karnali river in Kharpunath Rural Municipality, Humla, the status of persons missing in the accident is yet to be known.

Though a team of divers from Armed Police Force carried out a search operation in the river this afternoon till evening, nothing has come out of the search so far.

“A team of divers led by APF Inspector Laxman Bahadur Basnet from the APF camp in Kurintar has been searching for missing persons in the river but to no avail,” said Humla District Police Office Acting Chief Inspector Rajendra Bahadur Singh.

“We’re doing all we can for the rescue, but as time goes by chances of finding the missing ones alive are getting slimmer,” said the inspector.

According to Assistant Chief District Officer Mukesh Kumar Pokharel of Humla, it has been confirmed that the 16-seat capacity vehicle had 10 persons on board.

Kharpunath Rural Municipality Vice-chair Sindhu Shahi Hamal, her brother Chandra Hamal, jeep driver Mani Shahi, and locals Nainsingh Bhandari, Basanti Shahi, Nandadevi Singh, Gokul Sunar and Kaura Kami and her two-year-old son of Kharpunath Rural Municipality have gone missing after the accident yesterday afternoon.

“One more person, a mechanic, who has also gone missing after the accident and couldn’t be identified earlier, has been identified now. He is Raju Shrestha of Thankot, Kathmandu,” said Pokharel.

Meanwhile, with only vehicle operating here meeting with an accident, transportation on the road has halted. The jeep had started plying between Simikot and Kharpunath Rural Municipality under Kharpunath Transportation Pvt Ltd regularly since March this year after it was airlifted here by a local.