One Saptakoshi Boat Victim Identified, Police Say Three Still Missing

One of the three people killed when a passenger boat capsized in the Saptakoshi River on Sunday, October 25, has been identified, police said. The search for three others was still under way when police last spoke to reporters that day, with no settled count of how many were on board. Nepal Wire found no new police update on the search, the two unidentified dead or the driver as of 9am on Monday, October 26.

If your family travels hill routes by boat or bus at Dashain and Tihar, this is about that trip. DC Nepal reported that vehicles on hill and remote routes carry more people than they should in the festival season, and that accidents like this keep happening. Police found in their first check that 16 people were aboard this boat, more than its capacity, DC Nepal reported.

Nagarik News reported, citing police, on the afternoon of Sunday, October 25, that the dead woman was Lila Rai, about 52, of Baraha Kshetra Municipality-1 in Sunsari district. She was pulled from the river alive but died during treatment at Chatra Hospital. Early Sunday reports by DC Nepal and Setopati, citing Sunsari police, had described the dead woman as 35. The other two bodies, those of a man described as 40 to 50 years old and a girl first reported as 5 by DC Nepal and Setopati and later as about 6 or 7 by Setopati, remain unidentified, Setopati reported, citing police.

The motorboat was travelling from Kopche in Bhojpur district toward Chatra in Sunsari's Baraha Kshetra municipality when it capsized around 2pm on Sunday, October 25, near Triveni, the point where Dhankuta, Udayapur and Bhojpur districts meet on the river, according to DC Nepal, Setopati and Nagarik News, all citing police.

Three people remain missing, Nagarik News and Setopati reported, citing police: Pramila Magar, 21, and Manu Rai, 22, both of Baraha Kshetra-1, and a seven-year-old boy whom Nepal Wire is not naming because he is a child. Nepal Police and a team from the Armed Police Force, a federal police force that also runs rescues, from its No. 6 unit in Dhankuta are searching for them, Setopati reported.

The boat's driver, Suman Magar, swam out, DC Nepal and Setopati reported. Nagarik News gave his age as 24 and his home as Baraha Kshetra-1. Police took him under their control and are investigating, DC Nepal and Setopati reported. No outlet reported a charge.

What the coverage missed

Police themselves have not settled on how many people were on the boat. Nagarik News quoted Superintendent Narayan Ranjitkar, the Dhankuta police chief, saying on Sunday, October 25, that 14 passengers were reported aboard but the figure was not confirmed. Setopati's report on Sunday, October 25, put the figure at 15, including the driver, while a separate Setopati report that day quoted Police Inspector Bikram Bahadur Bhattarai saying 16 were aboard. DC Nepal reported on Sunday, October 25, that police found in their first check 16 people aboard against only 11 tickets sold, with the driver telling police the other five were his own relatives. OnlineKhabar's report on Sunday, October 25, put the ticket count at 12, not 11, for the same 16 people.

The accounts of why the boat went down differ too. Police Inspector Bikram Bahadur Bhattarai of the Baraha Kshetra area police office told Setopati the engine stopped in the Arun river stretch. Superintendent Narayan Ranjitkar, the Dhankuta police chief, told OnlineKhabar the engine failed and the boat drifted. DC Nepal reported overloading and a fast current as the suspected cause, without naming who made that estimate. A later Setopati report the same day said police had first information that the brake failed.

OnlineKhabar reported the jetboat service had been halted since Asar, the monsoon month that began in mid June, and restarted on Kartik 1, which was October 18, one week before the accident. No outlet, including police, has stated the boat's licensed passenger capacity or named who operates or licenses the service.

What we still do not know

• Why the service stopped in Asar and what checks, if any, came before it restarted on October 18.
• The boat's permitted passenger limit and which office licenses the route. No outlet has reported either.
• Which of the three causes police have given is the one they are standing behind. The District Police Offices of Dhankuta and Sunsari could answer.
• The names of the two still unidentified dead. Police or Chatra Hospital could answer.
• Whether the search for the three missing people, including the seven-year-old boy, has found them. Nepal Police and the Armed Police Force's No. 6 unit in Dhankuta could answer.
• Whether driver Suman Magar faces any charge or is only being held while police investigate. Police or the public prosecutor's office could answer.