More than 70 people were injured after a stray dog attacked pedestrians outside Kalaiya Provincial Hospital on Tuesday afternoon. The dog, which had been roaming around the road, bit people at random as it moved through the area.

The incident occurred amid heavy crowds for Tihar and the Chhath festival, when the streets were packed with people. Witnesses said the dog attacked anyone walking along the road, injuring dozens.

Despite the attacks continuing since the afternoon, the dog has not yet been captured. Bhulan Sah, chief of the Environment and Disaster Management Section at Kalaiya Sub-metropolitan City, said the municipality lacked a dog capture net, making it impossible to control the animal. The net, he said, had been handed over to the Livestock Office, which was closed for the holiday.

The dog ran for nearly a kilometre—from Barewa Durbar to Barewa Secondary School—biting people along the way.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Bijaya Raj Pandey, spokesperson for the District Police Office, Bara, at least 70 people, including former vice-chairman of the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) Rakesh Pandey, were injured in the incident. Fifty-two of them are receiving treatment at Kalaiya Hospital. Pandey said police have identified the dog’s appearance and launched a search.

Eighteen victims went to Narayani Hospital in Birgunj for anti-rabies injections, as Kalaiya Hospital did not have the required vaccines. “The dog bit me while I was riding my motorbike, leaving a deep wound, so I came to Birgunj for treatment,” said FNJ’s former vice-chairman Pandey.

Pandey complained that repeated calls to the police chief and the mayor went unanswered following the incident. He said several elderly people were among the injured and described the victims’ condition as distressing.