Banke District Administration has concluded that Sunday night’s microbus incident took place as the vehicle was allowed to take to the road without a proper permit. The administration has admitted its mistake after an assessment of the accident in a Tuesday meeting.

The packed microbus had rammed into a parked truck in Banke on Sunday night, killing twelve passengers and injuring 21.

“Allowing a drunk driver to drive a microbus without a permit and with more passengers more than the vehicle’s capacity are grave mistakes that led to the accident,” said Chief District Officer Ram Bahadur Kurumbang. “There will be an investigation into the incident. We have learned a lesson and have started arranging proper transport facilities for returnees heading home.”

After the incident, the Area Police Jamunaha has stepped up security checks, said Superintendent Madhav Rijal. “We have received complaints that passenger vehicles are picking up passengers on their way to their destinations. We are investigating that as well,” he said.

Deg Nath Gautam, chair of Bheri Transportation Entrepreneurs Association, said that only those vehicles with route permit passes have been used to ferry returnees from India. Gautam, however, defended the association’s choice to charge double than the usual fare. He blamed the administration for the accident. “Why did the administration allow a vehicle without a pass to ferry passengers?” he said.