Adventuring in Nepal: bus accident

As we walked out of vespers last Friday night, we walked in chaos. As we walked through the hospital lobby, a nurse pawed her way through the crowd, trying to get through the rush. Just outside, an ambulance was unloading.

A bus accident. In the minutes that followed, more ambulances, covered pick-up trucks, and two packed buses pulled through the hospital gate and unloaded more injured and their relatives.

The overcrowded bus had been headed up a mountain road just past the town of Nala, not more than 10 miles away from our hospital. Some say there were 150 people on the bus - which I’m not sure is possible - but a man who got off the bus in Nala stated there were about 120 people when he exited the bus, just prior to the accident. It’s difficult to say how many more got on the bus on the way up the hill, but needless to say, people packed the seats, the aisle, and the rooftop. There were even goats on the roof. Sacks of flour and I think rice were also on the bus.

As the bus headed up the narrow road, it encountered three motorcycles coming down. The motorcycles insisted the bus move to the side to let them pass. The bus moved to the outside edge, which collapsed underneath the weight of the bus and toppled off the embankment and down the steep hillside. The bus rolled four times, mowing down the trees and finally slowing to a stop on a bed of trees over a ravine.

In the dark, people tried to climb out of the bus suspended above the ground, attempted to find the bodies that had been thrown, and climbed up to the road carrying on their backs the injured. The driver, wounded and bleeding, went down the road to Nala for help. Invariably, the people attacked the driver in an effort to take his life, but he somehow escaped. Other buses and vehicles carried the people down the hill to our hospital and the Dhulikhel hospital not far from us.

On-call doctors and nurses rushed to the hospital, and everyone around tried to pitch in - adding to the chaos. I stood off to the side, wishing I had any qualifications, and that I understood Nepali better so I could understand what was being said around me. A couple Nepali friends kept me filled in, however, even about the injured man being carried out of the hospital on a friend’s back. The man’s pride was seriously hurt, as his wounds were not being attended to fast enough.

He was obviously not the most serious case. Three men arrived already dead. The money-collector who stands hanging out the door was sent to Kathmandu in our ambulance with a serious head injury and a crushed lung. He died during the night. Fifty-five patients were admitted to our hospital, with a similar number being admitted at the Dhulikhel hospital. Five died in total. Several broken bones, and scores of wounds needing suturing.

The family and friends crying, sobbing, weeping over those lost cut deep into the turmoil. It was a difficult night. Three more people were found at the crash site about midnight, and were presumably taken to another hospital in worse condition.

It could have been a lot worse. Out of 120 people, only 5 deaths. Only several broken bones, not more. It was certainly traumatic, but the fact that they were so packed inside probably saved many lives. And the trees no doubt slowed their descent. That’s positive, but still, people died. People lost sons, brothers, fathers, friends.

Later in the evening I walked around the back of the hospital to avoid the crowds and peek in the ER and surgical ward.

On Saturday, crowds gathered and I watched from across the valley with friends as the families of the deceased carried out the bodies. Covered with bright colored sheets, carried by pallbearers, accompanied by drums and a wailing horn, on their way to be cremated.

It’s sad that these kinds of bus accidents are so common here. So common it almost seems normal, sadly. Death has become more real to me here, and it scares me. I had to remind myself that being a part of this scene is not a normal experience in the States.

Here are some pictures.