KATHMANDU, MARCH 30
In a heart-wrenching accident this morning at Melamchi Chowk of Sundarijal in Gokarneshwor Municipality, Kathmandu, two sisters aged eight and four years, who were heading to school with their father were killed instantly after a tipper truck on reverse gear rolled over the motorbike on a steep slope just a few hundred metres away from their home.
It was just like any other day for Rohan Ghising (Tamang), 31, and his wife.
The couple woke up early in the morning, prepared lunch for their young daughters Shristi and Shreya, studying in grade two and nursery respectively at a nearby local school.
The parents prepared them for school and the mother bid good-bye to their daughters as they headed towards school on the motorbike with their father. But shortly after they left home, a heavy tipper truck on reverse gear, with the driver not having the slightest idea of motorbike behind it, hit the bike killing the two girls instantly, and critically injuring Rohan.
The Ghising family are daily wage earners. Despite hardships, they had enrolled their children at a boarding school in the area.
Local leader and ward chair of the area Ram Manandhar told THT that the accident occurred on a steep slope on the gravel road, where the truck that was on reverse gear hit the bike as the driver had no idea that the motorbike was behind it.
"Unfortunately, there was no driver's assistant inside the truck, which was reversing down the steep slope to provide space for another truck.
But, the truck driver was so careless that he was not aware of a bike honking behind it as he rolled over it."
Manandhar said. The accident instantly took the lives of two children, while the father suffered serious injuries.
He is undergoing treatment at the ICU in Nepal Medical College, Uttarkhel.
Pictures on social media showed the girls' bodies covered under white sheets and the motorbike under the truck on the rear side.
The truck was fully loaded with sand.
The truck driver fled the scene immediately after the incident, while hundreds of people who gathered at the site in no time vandalised the truck. Irate locals also vandalised two other trucks that were parked at the crusher site nearby. A large number of riot police were mobilised in the area to bring the situation under control as police also shot a couple of rounds of tear gas to disperse the locals.
Police nabbed the truck driver late in the evening. He has been kept at Bouddha Police Circle.
A version of this article appears in the print on March 31, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
