A month after a devastating landslide in Nepal’s Chitwan district swept away two buses into the Trishuli River, search and rescue operations for the missing passengers, including two from India, and the vehicles continue, according to a media report on Monday.

Extensive search operations, including the deployment of a 12-member team from India's National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), have not yet located the two missing buses and many passengers swept away by the landslide, The Kathmandu Post newspaper reported.

The landslide occurred on July 12 in the Simaltal area along the Narayanghat-Mugling road in Chitwan district when two buses carrying 65 passengers, including seven Indians, were swept away following heavy rainfall. Three people swam to safety soon after the incident.

The bodies of five Indian nationals have been recovered so far while two are still missing.

The search teams have so far found 25 bodies in the Narayani riverbanks and the Triveni Dam area, approximately 103 kilometres downstream from the incident site.

However, only 19 bodies found downstream have been confirmed to be of those missing in the incident.

The Indian team returned on July 29 following the first phase of the search operation. Nepali security forces initiated the second phase of search operations on the same day.

“We have been conducting regular surveillance from Ghumaune Kerabari to Bhorle, a section of the river located several metres downstream from the accident site. An 11-member team is dedicated to this effort,” said Senior Superintendent Madhav Paudel.

He added that a team of divers is on standby at the Armed Police Force’s 17th Battalion in Aaptari, Narayanghat. Additionally, a team from Nawalparasi is monitoring the Triveni area of the Narayani River.

“Sandbars emerge when the river shifts its course during floods. We are continuously observing these areas downstream from the accident site in hopes of finding the bus wreckage,” said SSP Paudel.

A five-member task force formed by the government to investigate the incident concluded that the accumulation of debris and gravel from the construction of a rural road above the Narayanghat-Muglin highway triggered the landslide that swept away the buses.

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