Three people went missing after a tipper truck plunged into Thuli Bheri River in ward 11 of Aathbiskot Municipality along the Bheri Corridor.

According to Police Inspector Ganesh Khanal, chief of the Aathbiskot Police Station, the missing include 35-year-old tipper driver Maniram Chaudhary from Dang, Dhanbir Baraili from ward 3 of Sani Bheri Rural Municipality in Rukum West, and another person whose identity is yet to be verified.

The truck tipped off the road and plunged into the river at around 8pm on Tuesday.

“Besides the driver, two others—an excavator operator and a helper—were on board. The accident occurred when they were returning from Chisapani to Chhepare,” Khanal said.

Search operations have been ongoing since early Thursday, but rising water levels in the river have hampered rescue efforts, he said.