SOLDIERS, police and villagers recovered another 19 bodies today from a mountain river in west Nepal where a bus crashed a day earlier, officials said.
The death toll hit 36 and was expected to rise.
"There are still many more bodies trapped in the wreckage. We have been able to pull out only part of the bus from the water," police official Navraj Thapa said.
Fresh rain was hampering the recovery operations, with the mountain river already flooded and murky with a fast-moving current.
Police have said the overcrowded bus was carrying about 100 passengers when it sped off the road and plunged 100 metres into the Rapti river.
The bus was mostly carrying Buddhist pilgrims to a religious fair when it crashed yesterday near Bhaluwang town, about 400 kilometres south-west of the capital, Kathmandu, and plunged into the river.
Rescuers managed to save 38 passengers, police chief Deepak Kumar Thapa said.
Police were still investigating what caused the crash.
Accidents in Nepal are often caused by poorly maintained roads and overcrowded vehicles.
Police chief Thapa said most of the survivors were able to escape because they were on the roof, which is a common practice.
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