Ten Killed as Electric Microbus Plunges 500 Metres Off Mountain Road in Nepal on Way Home for Chhath

Ten people were killed and at least five others injured in Nepal on Thursday morning, 12 November 2026, when an electric microbus carrying passengers home for the Chhath festival plunged off a steep mountain road in Makwanpur district.

The vehicle, an electric Hiace carrying 15 people, veered off the Bhimphedi-Kulekhani-Kathmandu road at Chisapani Gadhi in Bhimphedi Rural Municipality-6 at around 5:45am, and fell about 500 metres down a hillside, police said. The passengers were travelling from the capital, Kathmandu, to Sarlahi district in southern Nepal.

It is one of the deadliest road crashes in Nepal this year, and it happened on a morning when thousands of families across the country were travelling home for one of the biggest festivals of the year.

What happened on Thursday morning

The microbus left Kathmandu before dawn, heading for Sarlahi in the flat Terai plains near Nepal’s border with India. The passengers were going home to celebrate Chhath, a Hindu festival in which families gather to offer prayers to the sun. For many workers and students living in the capital, the festival is one of the few times a year they travel back to their home villages.

The crash happened at Chisapani Gadhi, a spot on the Bhimphedi-Kulekhani-Kathmandu road in Makwanpur district, Bagmati Province, about eight kilometres north of the Bhimphedi Area Police Office. The road winds through steep hills south-west of Kathmandu, and it is one of the main routes out of the Kathmandu Valley towards the southern plains.

According to police, the vehicle, registered as Madhesh Province 03-001 Ja 0880, veered off the road and plunged down the slope. Some early reports put the fall at around 700 metres; police at the scene said it was about 500 metres. Either way, the drop was far too great for anyone inside to survive without serious injury.

Rescue teams from the Nepal Police, the Armed Police Force, the Nepal Army and the Bagmati Pradesh Disaster Management Group reached the site after being alerted. A police team led by Superintendent of Police Shyam Bahadur Khatri of the Makwanpur District Police Office also arrived at the scene.

Superintendent of Police Niwan Kumar Khadka of the Armed Police Force, who was stationed in the district, told reporters that bodies were scattered across the hillside. “There were 12 bodies scattered around the area, and 10 of them were immediately confirmed dead,” he said.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Madhav Prasad Kafle of the Makwanpur District Police Office confirmed the death toll stood at 10.

Who were the victims

The ten people killed were five men, three women and two girls, police said.

The driver was identified as Ravi Shankar Kumar Mandal, from Kabilasi Municipality-8 in Sarlahi. Another victim was identified as Subek Yadav, from Sundarpur Tole in Chakraghatta Rural Municipality. Police said the identities of the other victims were still being established.

The injured were named as Mukesh Yadav, Devendra Yadav, Sanjay Yadav, Sujan Yadav and Saksham Yadav. They were taken to Hetauda Hospital for treatment. Police said the injured included two boys and three men, and one later update put the number of injured at six.

In one small piece of good news from the scene, rescuers pulled a three-year-old child alive from the wreckage.

The vehicle was carrying more people than it should

One detail police confirmed quickly was that the microbus was overloaded. It was carrying 15 people, including the driver, in a vehicle built to carry 10.

Overloading is a common problem on Nepal’s roads, especially during festival seasons when demand for transport surges and operators squeeze in extra passengers. Police have not yet said whether overloading caused this crash, and the cause remains under investigation. But investigators will certainly look at it, along with the condition of the road, the vehicle and the early-morning driving conditions.

Festival travel makes the problem worse. During Chhath, Dashain and Tihar, Nepal’s biggest festivals, hundreds of thousands of people leave Kathmandu for their home districts at the same time. Buses and microbuses run packed, tickets sell out, and some passengers travel on vehicles that are already full.

Why Nepal’s mountain roads are so dangerous

Nepal’s geography makes road travel risky in a way that is hard to grasp for anyone who has not driven there. The country is mostly mountains and steep hills. Roads are often narrow, with sharp bends and sheer drops on one side and no guardrails. A small mistake, a brake failure or a tyre bursting can send a vehicle hundreds of metres down a slope before anyone can react.

Rain makes it worse. Monsoon rains wash away parts of roads, loosen hillsides and cause landslides. Even in the dry season, dust and loose gravel reduce grip. Many rural roads are only partly paved.

The numbers tell the story. According to Nepal Police, 2,707 people were killed in road accidents in Nepal during the 2025-26 fiscal year, which ended in mid-July. That is more than seven deaths a day, on average, in a country of about 30 million people.

Thursday’s crash fits a painful pattern. In Nepal, the deadliest crashes are often not on busy city streets but on rural mountain roads, where a single vehicle carrying a whole family or a group of neighbours goes off the road and there is nobody nearby to help quickly.

What is Chhath, and why were so many people travelling

Chhath is a Hindu festival dedicated to the sun god, Surya, and his wife, Chhathi Maiya. It is celebrated mainly in the Terai plains of Nepal and in the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh. Devotees fast, gather at rivers and ponds, and offer prayers at sunrise and sunset.

For families in the Terai, including in Sarlahi district where this microbus was heading, Chhath is one of the most important festivals of the year — a time when people who work or study in Kathmandu or abroad come home. That is why the roads out of the capital are so crowded in the days before the festival, and why so many of the passengers on Thursday’s microbus were travelling together as a group.

What happens next

Police said they are investigating the cause of the crash and working to establish the identities of all those killed and injured.

The injured passengers are being treated at Hetauda Hospital, the main hospital in the area. Three of them reached the hospital at around 7:40am, roughly two hours after the crash — a reminder of how long it takes to get help to a remote mountain road, and how much depends on the first people to reach the scene. Police have not yet released an update on the injured passengers’ condition.

The crash is likely to renew the debate in Nepal about road safety, overloaded vehicles and the condition of mountain highways. The government has announced crackdowns on overloading and unfit vehicles after similar tragedies in the past, but enforcement on rural routes remains weak, and the death toll keeps rising.

For the families in Sarlahi who were waiting for their loved ones to arrive for Chhath, Thursday brought the worst possible news instead: a festival that should have been a reunion has become a time of mourning.

Frequently asked questions

Where did the crash happen?

At Chisapani Gadhi in Bhimphedi Rural Municipality-6, Makwanpur district, Bagmati Province, on the Bhimphedi-Kulekhani-Kathmandu road, about eight kilometres north of the Bhimphedi Area Police Office.

How many people were killed and injured?

Ten people were killed — five men, three women and two girls. At least five people were injured and taken to Hetauda Hospital; one later update put the number of injured at six.

What kind of vehicle was involved?

An electric Hiace microbus, registered as Madhesh Province 03-001 Ja 0880, travelling from Kathmandu to Sarlahi district. It was carrying 15 people in a vehicle built for 10.

Why were the passengers travelling?

They were returning home to Sarlahi to celebrate Chhath, a Hindu festival dedicated to the sun god.

What caused the crash?

The cause is still under investigation. Police confirmed the vehicle was overloaded, and investigators will look at whether that played a part, along with the road and vehicle condition.

How common are road deaths in Nepal?

Very common. Nepal Police recorded 2,707 road deaths in the 2025-26 fiscal year, which ended in mid-July — more than seven a day on average.

Conclusion

Thursday’s crash in Makwanpur is a tragedy in itself: ten people, including two young girls, killed on what should have been a joyful journey home for a festival. But it is also a reminder of a bigger, quieter crisis in Nepal. More than 2,700 people die on the country’s roads every year, many of them on mountain roads like the one at Bhimphedi, in vehicles carrying more passengers than they were built for.

Until overloading is controlled, rural roads are made safer and unfit vehicles are kept off the highways, crashes like this one will keep happening — and festival journeys home will keep ending in grief.

Sources

• The Hindu — At least 10 killed as passenger vehicle plunges off steep slope in Nepal
• The Himalayan Times — Update: Ten dead, six injured in Chhath-bound EV crash in Makwanpur
• My Republica — EV accident in Makwanpur kills 10, injures five
• India TV News — Chhath trip turns tragic; 10 killed after passenger vehicle plunges off steep slope in Nepal
• The Assam Tribune — Ten killed as passenger vehicle plunges off road in Nepal’s Makawanpur

This article is for general information and education only. It is not legal or financial advice.