Nepal: Death Toll in Makwanpur Microbus Crash Rises to 14, Including Six From One Family

Updated 13:51 UTC, November 12

Death toll rises to 14, eleven victims identified

The death toll from Thursday morning's microbus crash at Chisapani Gadhi in Bhimphedi Rural Municipality-6 has risen to 14, Radio Nepal and Nepal Television reported. Eleven of the dead have been identified.

Six of the dead were members of one family from Chakraghatta Rural Municipality-4 in Sarlahi: Punam Devi Yadav, 35, her daughters Anukumari Yadav, 10, Diksha Yadav, 6, and Deepika Yadav, 5, and two other relatives. The driver, Rabishankar Kumar Mandal, about 30, was also among the identified dead, according to Deputy Superintendent of Police Madhav Prasad Kafle of the District Police Office in Makwanpur. The identities of three victims were still being established.

Six injured passengers were taken to Hetauda Hospital. Makwanpur Chief District Officer Basanta Adhikari visited the injured at the hospital. The electric microbus, registration Madhesh Province 03-001 Ja 0880, was travelling from Kathmandu to Sarlahi when it fell about 500 metres off the Bhimphedi-Kulekhani road, Radio Nepal reported. The cause of the crash has not been established.

Ten people were killed and five others were injured on Thursday morning when an electric passenger microbus plunged off a hillside road in Makwanpur district, Nepal, on a trip from Kathmandu to Sarlahi.

The crash happened at Chisapani Gadhi in Bhimphedi Rural Municipality-6, along the Bhimphedi-Kulekhani-Kathmandu road section. Fifteen people were on board, including the driver, according to preliminary reports carried by the state-owned Radio Nepal and other Nepali outlets.

What the first reports say

The Press Trust of India (PTI) reported that the electric van lost control at about 5:45 a.m. and fell about 500 metres down a steep slope, citing the MyRepublica newspaper. The dead were three women, two girls and five men, PTI reported. Their identities had not been confirmed by Thursday afternoon.

Early reports differed on some details. Some accounts put the time closer to 6:10 a.m. and the fall at about 700 metres. Later reporting identified the vehicle by its registration number, Ma. Pra. 03-001 Ja 0880. The cause of the crash has not been established.

Rescue and treatment

Rescue personnel from Nepal Police, the Armed Police Force and the Nepali Army were sent to the steep site to reach the injured and recover the victims. A seven-member rescue team was dispatched after the first reports came in, according to the Armed Police Force.

Three of the injured passengers were taken to Hetauda Hospital for treatment, Republica reported. The vehicle was travelling toward Malangwa, the headquarters of Sarlahi district, the Armed Police Force said.

A road toll that keeps rising

Road crashes kill people in Nepal every day, and Thursday's crash adds to a toll that police figures put in plain terms. Nepal Police recorded 2,707 deaths in road accidents during the 2025-26 fiscal year, which ended in mid-July. Police data cited in Indian reporting says an average of seven people die and 82 are injured on Nepal's roads each day.

Authorities in Makwanpur said they were still gathering details about the victims and the circumstances of the crash on Thursday, and further official information was expected.

What is known and what is not

The confirmed picture on Thursday was the route, the place and the toll: a Kathmandu to Sarlahi passenger trip, a crash at Chisapani Gadhi in Bhimphedi Rural Municipality-6, and ten dead with five injured out of fifteen people on board. The open items were just as clear. The names of the dead had not been released, the injured passengers taken to Hetauda were not all accounted for in the first reports, and investigators had given no cause. Early reports also disagreed on the time of the crash and on how far the vehicle fell, and those details were still being checked against official statements on Thursday.