Expressing grief over the Nepal bus accident, which killed 27 people in western Nepal on Saturday evening, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that as soon as this accident happened, the government immediately contacted the Nepal government.
“I would like to express my grief over the Nepal bus accident. In this accident, we have several people from Jalgaon. I express my condolences to all the bereaved families,” PM Modi said in his address at the Lakhpati Didi Sammelan in Jalgaon on Sunday.
He ensured that those who were injured in the tragic incident were being treated well.
“As soon as this accident happened, the government immediately contacted the Nepal government. We asked our minister, Raksha Khadse, to immediately go to Nepal. We have brought back the bodies of our deceased in a special Air Force plane,” Prime Minister Modi said.
“Those who are injured are being treated well. I wish for their speedy recovery…” he added.
The Indian Air Force’s C-130 J aircraft carrying the mortal remains of 25 Indian pilgrims killed in a road accident in Nepal landed at Jalgaon Airport in Maharashtra on Saturday.
The military aircraft flew into Bharatpur city in Chitwan district, near the Tanahun district, where an India-registered bus had crashed on Friday.
A total of 27 people were killed in the bus accident, which had veered off the road into the river basin. Earlier, Indradev Yadav, Chief District Officer of Chitwan, said two bodies of the 27 killed in the accident were sent to their hometown, Gorakhpur, by road.
Autopsies of the body were performed at Bharatpur Hospital and handed over to the Indian authorities for transportation. Union Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports, Raksha Nikhil Khadse, and Maharashtra legislator, Sanjay Shubhakar, arrived in Nepal on Saturday morning to enquire about the health condition of the injured Indian nationals.
Both officials returned on the same aircraft. Khadse met all the 16 injured undergoing treatment at the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu and received updates.
Raksha Nikhil Khadse thanked the minister and the Nepal government for the prompt and timely assistance provided for the search and rescue operations as well as for the treatment of the injured. She appreciated the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu for providing necessary assistance and coordination on the ground with Nepalese authorities.
The bus was en route to Kathmandu from Pokhara when it skidded off the road at Ainapahara in ward 2 of the rural municipality and fell about 150 metres into the river on Friday.