As many as 41 passengers were injured in a bus accident in Thapagaun, Sindhupalchok on Wednesday.

The bus carrying passengers was enroute to Kathmandu from Thokarpa, Sunkoshi Rural Municipality when it fell 25 metres down a cliff at Thapagaun.

According to Daksha Kumar Basnet, DSP at the District Police Office in Sindhupalchok, two passengers died during the course of the treatment while 41 passengers suffered injuries.

“Police are searching for the driver who has fled the scene,” said DSP Basnet.

Twenty-two injured passengers have been sent to Dhulikhel Hospital while 18 have been admitted to Sindhu Sadabahar Hospital, Khadichaur and one to Madhyapur Thimi Hospital.

Of the two deceased, one is a 45 year-old man from Thulo Durlung, Lalitpur. The identity of the other deceased is yet to be ascertained, said police.

According to the locals and survivors of the accident, the bus swerved off the cliff when the driver tried to overtake another vehicle.