22 DEAD, 16 IN HOSPITAL AFTER BUS PLUNGES INTO RIVER IN CENTRAL NEPAL

A packed passenger bus plunged into a river on Friday in central Nepal, killing 22 people, a senior local official said. The bus fell into the swelling Trishuli river, off the highway at Chandi Bhanjyang village in Chitwan district. The death toll was initially put at 21, but deputy district chief Chet Narayan Sharma Ghimire said search and rescue workers had recovered another body. Ghimire said that 16 people were rescued from the partially submerged wreckage of the bus and are undergoing treatment at local hospitals. The bus was heading to the tourist town of Pokhara from the southern district of Rautahat.