Sanjay Yadav was heading home to Sarlahi from Kathmandu to celebrate Chhath. He boarded a microbus at 3am on Thursday, accompanied by neighbours and relatives from his village, all bound for the same festival gathering.

But as the vehicle, bearing registration number Madhesh Province 03-001 Ja 0880, reached Chisapani Gadhi in Bhimphedi Rural Municipality-6 of Makawanpur district, the journey turned into a tragedy.

At around 5:45am, the microbus suddenly veered off the road and plunged around 700 metres down a steep slope. Most of the passengers were asleep at the time.

Yadav was dozing when the vehicle crashed.

“The vehicle had stopped at Chisapani Gadhi. As the driver tried to move forward, it suddenly lurched and plunged down the slope. I fell with it,” he said. “I somehow landed a little higher up the slope as the vehicle went down. I was injured, but survived. I think many others died.”

Yadav was thrown out of the vehicle midway through its fall. He said he realised only later that the microbus had overturned and come to rest far below.

Yadav and four other injured passengers are receiving treatment at Hetauda Hospital.

A resident of ward 4 of Chakraghatta Rural Municipality in Sarlahi, Yadav was travelling with neighbours and relatives who had collectively booked the vehicle over the phone. Since they came from the same village and neighbourhood, he knew everyone on board, he said.

“We knew the driver too, which is why we booked that particular vehicle,” he said. “But this is a journey I will never forget.”

Yadav suspects the driver may have fallen asleep at the wheel. Police have also made a preliminary assessment that driver fatigue may have caused the crash.

Residents say the road section around Chisapani Gadhi has seen accidents before, although the stretch towards Deurali has rarely witnessed such an incident.

“There have been many vehicle accidents on the road from Chisapani Gadhi towards Jurikhet, but this is the first time I have seen an accident on this particular stretch between Chisapani Gadhi and Deurali,” said Sanjiv Shrestha, a hotel operator in Deurali.