Death toll in bus crash up to 26

The death toll from a major bus crash in Nepal has risen to 26 after several people died of their injuries, local police said yesterday.The overcrowded passenger bus veered off a mountain road in north-western Nepal on Thursday, killing 26 people dead and injuring 36 others, said Suman Kharel, police inspector in Jajarkot district.“Among the injured, four are being treated at the district hospital and the rest have been airlifted to Nepalgunj (the nearest town,” Kharel said.The bus was heading west to Khara village from the district headquarters of Khalnga.The bus fell 200m downhill and plunged into a stream in the village of Bohara Gaun.“Most of the passengers were local people travelling to their home,” he said.The single-lane paved road, which connects villages with the district’s main town, winds through rugged hills, he added. Kharel said the driver lost control of the bus, which led to the accident, one of the major crashes in the accident-prone country.Poorly maintained vehicles coupled with reckless driving and bad roads lead to numerous fatal road accidents in Nepal every year.Eighteen people were killed when a bus carrying passengers crashed on a narrow mountain road in central Nepal in September last year.