2 Indian Couples Among 5 Killed In Car-Bus Collision In Nepal

Two Indian couples were among five people killed after their car collided head-on with a bus in Nepal's Dhading district, the police said on Monday.

The accident occurred on Sunday night along the Prithvi Highway in Thakre area when the victims were returning to Kathmandu after visiting Pokhara, a scenic city some 200 kms from Kathmandu, police said.

The victims - identified as Rakesh Agarwal and his wife Sadhna Agarwal, residents of Aligarh, and their relatives, Vimal Agarwal and his wife Sandhya Agarwal of Kasganj in Uttar Pradesh - died while undergoing treatment in a local hospital.

The Nepalese driver of the car Dil Bahadur Basnet, 36, of Khaireni in Tanhu district, was also killed in the accident, according to the police.

The bus was heading towards Dhading from Kathmandu.

Rakesh Agarwal and Sadhna Agarwal lived in Jiaganj locality in the old city area in Aligarh where he also owned a shop.

Family members said they were scheduled to return to Delhi by air on Monday.

Hearing the news of the tragedy, friends and acquaintances of the couple reached their residence to offer condolences, while their two sons rushed to Nepal to bring back their bodies.

Meanwhile, Vimal Agarwal and Sandhya Agarwal, residents of Amapur Nagar town of Kasganj, were closely related to Rakesh Agarwal and had gone to Nepal with him and his wife.

Vimal Agarwal's son Vivek Agarwal is a judicial magistrate in Delhi, their acquaintances in Kasganj said.

Road accidents are very common in Nepal. The country is mostly covered with mountains and most roads are narrow. Bus accidents in the country are generally blamed on poor roads.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)