Students injured in the Pokhara school bus accident have said the crash might have occurred due to overspeed.

The students told Pokhara Metropolitan Mayor Dhanraj Acharya that the driver was overspeeding today. Acharya visited different hospitals to enquire about the health of the injured.

“The bus was at high-speed today, unlike in the past,” said a girl student. “The bus skidded off the road and fell down at a bend.”

Saman Gurung, a member of the Fushrekhola-Ramdi-Mattikhan road construction user committee, said they had previously warned the driver.

“It’s a newly constructed road,” he said. “We had repeatedly asked drivers to slow down. If it had been a dirt road, the speed would have been lower, and the bus might not have crashed. Drivers have begun speeding recklessly since the road was paved.”

According to an eyewitness, Krishna Devkota, chair of the Ramdi-Ekhatte Tole Development Committee, the bus collided with a utility pole and a tree before falling down the road.

Due to leftover gravel, two-wheelers often skid on the recently paved road. Three days ago, the committee requested the road division office complete the work and clear the gravel.

Two people, including a student, died, and 28 others were injured when a school bus met with an accident in ward 21 of Pokhara Metropolitan City, Kaski, on Sunday.

The deceased are a 35-year-old female employee of LP Devkota Memorial School in Pokhara-17 and her six-year-old son, an upper kindergarten student. The woman died on the spot, while the boy succumbed to his injuries while undergoing treatment at Gandaki Medical College.

The bus skidded off a hairpin bend and fell about 50 meters down while returning to school from Ramdi, according to the police.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Basanta Kumar Sharma, spokesperson for Kaski Police, said that 13 of the injured are receiving treatment at Gandaki Medical College, 12 at Pokhara Academy of Health Sciences and three at Manipal Teaching Hospital.