At least 19 people, including a 24‑year‑old British national, were killed early Monday when a passenger bus veered off a mountainous highway in central Nepal and plunged into a ravine, police said. The accident occurred on a hilly stretch of the Prithvi Highway near Behighat in Dhading district while the vehicle was travelling from the tourist city of Pokhara to the capital, Kathmandu, before dawn.
Officials said the bus, carrying around 44 passengers, fell roughly 200 metres (650 feet) from the road and came to rest near the banks of the Trishuli River. So far, only nine of the deceased have been formally identified; the remainder are still being processed by authorities.
Among the roughly 25 people injured in the crash were citizens from several countries. A Chinese national was reported receiving treatment at the National Trauma Centre in Kathmandu, and a New Zealander in her late twenties sustained minor injuries, officials said.
Rescue teams responded rapidly to the scene, extracting survivors from the wreckage and transporting the wounded to hospitals in Kathmandu. Police confirmed that an investigation into the cause of the crash is underway, though no official determination has yet been announced.
Road accidents are frequent in Nepal’s mountainous terrain, where narrow, poorly maintained roads combined with challenging weather and heavy traffic contribute to high rates of fatal crashes each year.