BHUBANESWAR: Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday requested External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to extend possible assistance to the victims of Kathmandu bus accident.
“I have just been informed of a tragic bus accident in Kathmandu, Nepal befalling pilgrims from Odisha today at around 1:00 am. It is understood that a bus carrying 23 pilgrims was en-route to Kathmandu from Janakpur when it met with an accident at Mangalpur,” Pradhan said in his letter to Jaishankar.
Informing that two pilgrims from Odisha were killed in the mishap while three critically injured are undergoing treatment at Birjung Neuro Hospital in Karki, Pradhan said the bodies of the deceased have been kept in a health facility at Chandranigahapur municipality for postmortem.
The deceased are Bijay Kumar Jena (52) and Charan Bishal (54). Among the injured, Sarbeshwor Jena (55), Sheshadev Jena (53) and Karuna Karjuna Awasthi (63) are undergoing treatment.
These people belong to Khurda and Puri districts. “I seek your personal intervention in taking up the matter with officials concerned for extending all possible assistance to the victims, postmortem of the deceased and facilitation of their repatriation,” he added.