PM Modi Announces Rs 2 Lakh Compensation For Nepal Bus Accident Victims

The death count in the road accident in Nepal's Tahahun district has now risen to 41, Maharashtra Minister Girish Mahajan said today. A bus carrying Indian tourists plunged off a Nepali highway and into a river on Friday. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh from Prime Minister's National Relief Fund for the families of those died in the mishap. Those injured in the accident would be given Rs 50,000, the PMO said in a post. 

It was travelling from the tourist city of Pokhara to the capital Kathmandu when it fell 150-feet into a river valley. Most of the passengers were from Maharashtra's Jalgaon district. The injured people were airlifted to Kathmandu and admitted at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital.

"41 people have lost their lives in Nepal after falling into the river. We've been in touch with the Embassy in Delhi, and the Nepal Army has transported 12 people to the hospital," Mr Mahajan said in a presser. 

The bodies of the victims and injured people will enter India from Maharajganj district of the Uttar Pradesh-Nepal border on Saturday afternoon, Maharashtra State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) Director Lahu Mali said, according to a report in news agency IANS. 

IAF To Bring Victims' Bodies

An Indian Air Force plane will bring the bodies of the Maharashtra pilgrims to Nashik, officials told news agency PTI. Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde spoke to Union Home Minister Amit Shah who assured all possible help, they added.

The special flight is likely to fly from Gorakhpur to Nashik and the state government will bear all the expenses for the same, IANS reported. 

Deadly crashes are relatively common in the Himalayan republic as a result of poor roads, badly maintained vehicles and reckless driving.

This accident came a month after two buses with 59 passengers on board were swept into a river by a landslide in Chitwan. 

(With inputs from agencies)