Indian tourist bus that plunged into Nepal's Marsyangdi River pulled out

An Indian tourist bus which plunged into the Marsyangdi River in central Nepal last week, killing 25 Indian pilgrims, was pulled out on Monday, authorities said.

The bus with an Uttar Pradesh registration was pulled out from the river by using a crane after closing the Mugling-Anbukhaireni road section of the national highway for four hours since Monday morning, according to Deputy Spokesperson of Armed Police Force Shailendra Thapa.

The bus veered off the highway and fell into the fast-flowing Marsyangdi River at Abu Khaireni in the Tanahun district of the Gandaki province last Friday.

The accident killed 25 pilgrims from Maharashtra. The driver and his assistant from Uttar Pradesh were also killed. The accident also injured 16 others.

The accident site lies on the national highway, some 90 km west of Kathmandu.

Initially, a single crane was used to pull the bus out, but then another crane was put to use to complete the task.

Passengers were stranded on the highway for hours while the work was underway. However, the road section opened by evening after the bus was pulled from the river.

The reason for the accident is not yet known.

The deceased and the injured were part of a group of 104 pilgrims on a visit to Nepal in three buses.

Following the accident, the post-mortem of the 27 Indians took place at a hospital in the Bagmati province on Saturday.

A military transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) then brought the bodies of 25 of the pilgrims to Maharashtra's Jalgaon.

Sixteen passengers who were rescued from the accident site are receiving treatment at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital here.