Three Pokhara Bus Crash Victims Cremated After Relief Deal, Ward Chair Says
Two more families are waiting to cremate their dead until relatives return from abroad, a Pokhara ward chair told DC Nepal.
Three of the five people killed when a school bus crashed at Okhle Bhir in Pokhara were cremated Sunday evening, after the school and the victims' families agreed on relief money and medical costs, according to Pokhara-28 ward chair Shree Krishna Lamichhane, quoted by DC Nepal.
The bus, registration Ga 2 Kha 1417, was carrying students from Majhthana toward Kalikasthan on Friday, October 9, when it crashed at Okhle Bhir, myRepublica reported. DC Nepal names the school that ran it Kalika English Boarding School. myRepublica calls it Kalika Secondary School, and Himal Press and OnlineKhabar English call it Kalika Boarding School. Four students and one adult passenger died. Fifteen others were hurt, myRepublica reported. Pokhara Mayor Dhanraj Acharya called for regular inspection of school vehicles and strict safety checks, OnlineKhabar English reported.
Kaski police identified the dead as Mamata Tiwari, age 15, Shubhechha Tiwari, age 15, Rumika Nepali, age 14, Asim Kandel, age 13, and Baburam Tiwari, age 65, who was not a student and had reportedly asked for a lift, myRepublica reported.
Mamata Tiwari, Asim Kandel and Shubhechha Tiwari were cremated at Ramghat on the banks of the Seti River on Sunday, October 11, after post mortem examinations, Lamichhane said. The families of Rumika Nepali and Baburam Tiwari are waiting. Nepali's father and Tiwari's son are both flying back from abroad, and their cremations will happen once they arrive, Lamichhane said.
At a meeting at the Kaski District Administration Office, the school agreed to pay each bereaved family Rs 350,000, about $2,600, in relief, on top of insurance money the families are separately entitled to, Lamichhane said. The school also agreed to cover the full treatment cost of everyone injured in the crash, he said. No outlet besides DC Nepal has reported these settlement terms, and neither Kaski police nor the district administration office have independently confirmed the figures.
A critically injured 16 year old student was flown to Kathmandu by helicopter on Sunday evening for further treatment, Chief District Officer Kumansingh Gurung said, according to DC Nepal. The district administration office coordinated with the Home Ministry to arrange a Mustang Air helicopter, which took the student to B&B Hospital in Kathmandu. Seven other injured students remain under treatment at the Pokhara Academy of Health Sciences, three have been discharged, and three more are being treated at Gandaki Medical College, the district administration office said.
A route bus on the school run
The bus that crashed did not carry the yellow paint Nepal requires on school vehicles. Investigators found it was an ordinary bus that normally runs the Pokhara to Begnas route, pressed into service for the school run, myRepublica reported.
Pokhara Metropolitan City formed a five member committee on the day of the crash to find its cause and recommend safety fixes, led by senior education officer Badrinath Subedi, with a mechanical engineer, a municipal police inspector and a traffic officer also on the panel, Himal Press and OnlineKhabar English reported. The committee was given five days to report, meaning its findings are due around October 14. As of Sunday's cremations, no outlet had reported findings from the committee.
What we still do not know
Whether Pokhara Metropolitan City's probe committee has found what caused the crash, a question for the committee or Mayor Dhanraj Acharya's office.
What permit class bus Ga 2 Kha 1417 was registered under, a question for the transport management office in Kaski and traffic police.
Whether driver Tul Bahadur Gurung, who was also injured, has given police his account of what happened before the crash, something only Kaski District Police Office can confirm.
The exact total each family will receive once insurance payouts are added to the school's relief money, and which insurer is involved, a question for Kalika English Boarding School and the district administration office.
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Sources
- DC Nepal · Cremation details, relief agreement terms and helicopter evacuation of the injured student
- myRepublica · Crash details, victim names and ages, the school's name, and the finding that the bus lacked school livery
- Himal Press (English) · Probe committee formation, members, five day deadline and the school's name
- OnlineKhabar English · Probe committee mandate, recommendations tasked and the mayor's call for vehicle inspections
Editorial review record
Why it ran today
- ranking judge 1: ranked #3 with 64/100. We covered the crash on October 9. The real development is the Sunday cremation of three victims after a relief agreement, plus a critically injured survivor flown to Kathmandu. The settlement terms come only from a ward chair quoted by DC Nepal, so they must be attributed and flagged as not yet confirmed. Do not name the injured 16-year-old, and do not imply fault before the probe panel reports. Weakest dimension: buried angle.
- ranking judge 2: ranked #3 with 62/100. Confirmed, score trimmed for single sourcing. The development since our October 9 piece is the Sunday cremation of three victims after a relief agreement and a critically injured survivor flown to Kathmandu. The terms come only from a ward chair quoted by DC Nepal. Attribute them and say no second outlet has confirmed them. Do not name the injured 16-year-old or imply fault before the probe panel reports. Weakest dimension: buried angle.
What the desk dug up
- The record. Kaski police investigators found the vehicle that crashed was not a dedicated, properly liveried school bus: it was an ordinary Pokhara-Begnas route bus pressed into service for the school run, lacking the yellow paint Nepal requires for school vehicles. [myRepublica]
- Left out. Pokhara Metropolitan City's five-member probe committee, formed the day of the crash with a five-day deadline to report on cause and safety recommendations, had not published any findings by the time families and the school reached a private relief settlement and three victims were cremated. [Himal Press (English)] [OnlineKhabar English]
Validation
1 red team round, 2 revisions. Decision: approved.
- accuracy90
- relevance82
- defensibility90
- reach63
Judge 1: The body is careful and follows the ranking orders, but the card states an unconfirmed, unpaid settlement as 'SCHOOL PAID' beside 'PROBE SILENT'. That is a sustained high severity problem that also implies fault. The 200 meter fall and the gorge appear in no fetched source, the caption invents 'licensed', and the hook and take say buried where DC Nepal says cremated, so the piece needs one precise editing pass before it can publish.
Judge 2: The revision log lists the edits as missed, but version 4 shows all nine edits ordered by judge 2. The hook now says four students died, the caption says funerals instead of bury, and the payment sentence is split and carries USD context. The headline credits the ward chair, the body says 'relief money', the school name is attributed correctly and the 'reportedly' hedge is back. A full reread against DC Nepal, myRepublica, Himal Press and OnlineKhabar English found nothing new without a source. The settlement is flagged as reported only by DC Nepal, the injured 16 year old is not named, and nothing implies fault before the probe reports. The one soft spot is the Rs 350,000 to about $2,600 conversion, which no source gives but which is within a plausible rate range, so it is not grounds to reject with no revisions left.
The complete record, including the advocate, skeptic, red team and defence arguments, is kept by the newsroom.
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