Police have recovered one more body from the Karnali River that had gone missing in a tipper accident on June 10. Search for a two-year-old child is still ongoing.

Police on Sunday night recovered the body of Manna Kumal, who was returning home from India with her husband, Dhanrup Kumal. Dhanrup survived the incident by jumping off the vehicle before it plunged down a cliff, he said. The couple have a seven-year-old son who they had left behind at their home in Raskot, Kalikot, before going to India for work.

Dhanrup said that they were returning home with Rs130,000 cash and belongings that are now missing in the river.

“The river swallowed everything that I had,” he said.

The tipper truck rolled down a cliff after its driver got off it while the engine was still running, he said. The vehicle was taking 39 recent returnees from India to a quarantine facility in Raskot Municipality.

Kul Sarki, another survivor of the accident, said that the incident took place due to the negligence of the tipper driver and police personnel who had accompanied the returnees.

According to District Police Chief DSP Shyam Babu Oliya, the vehicle was carrying 13 women and 26 men who had come to Nepal from Gujarat, Maharashtra and Uttarakhand of India following the Covid-29 pandemic. They were accompanied by the driver of the vehicle and two police personnel.

"The driver had an altercation with the passengers who were complaining of a lack of space in the vehicle," Oliya said. "The driver, in a fit of rage, exited the vehicle while the engine was running."

Most of the survivors lost everything they had earned in India, said Saraswati Bam, another survivor. “I lost two tolas of gold and Rs150,000 in cash,” she said.

Two passengers had died on the spot, while one died during the course of treatment in Kathmandu, according to CDO Chandra Prasad Gaire.

DSP Oliya said that Jumla Police is continuing the search for the missing child.