Bus plunges off Nepal highway, killing eight and injuring 16

A passenger bus plunged off Nepal’s BP Highway in Kavrepalanchok district and fell about 200 meters, killing eight people and injuring 16 in a crash that again exposed the dangers of mountain travel in Nepal. The bus was traveling from Banepa toward Roshi Rural Municipality when it went off the road near Buchakot and Selfie Danda.

The crash happened around 2:15 p.m. on June 12, 2026. Police and local reports identified the bus as Ba 2 Kha 8398, though one early account listed the vehicle as Ba 3 Kha 8398, reflecting the kind of reporting mismatch that often emerges in the first hours after a wreck in difficult terrain. The bus was carrying 24 people when it left the road and dropped into a gorge.

Emergency workers and police recovered eight bodies from the site and rushed the injured to Dhulikhel Hospital. Early reporting on the number of injured varied, with some accounts putting the figure at 15 and others at 16, but the toll remained severe for a single passenger vehicle. Rabin Bista said the injured were receiving treatment at Dhulikhel Hospital.

Nepal Police formed a six-member committee to investigate the cause of the crash. The Prime Minister’s Office issued condolences for the dead and ordered a probe, underscoring the public pressure that follows major road disasters in a country where steep highways, sharp bends and unstable slopes routinely turn routine trips into fatal events.

The tragedy fits a pattern that has long shadowed Nepal’s intercity roads. The BP Highway is a major link east of Kathmandu, but its mountain setting leaves little margin for driver error, vehicle failure or poor enforcement. In districts like Kavrepalanchok, where roads cut across cliffs and gorges, a single mistake can turn a passenger bus into a mass-casualty scene within seconds.

That broader risk is reflected in the Asian Transport Observatory’s Nepal Road Safety Profile 2025, which says Nepal faces a significant road-safety challenge and points to the Nepal Road Safety Action Plan 2021-2030 as a framework for improvement. The crash at Buchakot added another grim entry to that record and renewed scrutiny of road maintenance, vehicle standards and emergency response along one of the country’s most important mountain corridors.