Four people died and 19 others were injured in a road accident involving a passenger bus at Tribeni Rural Municipality in Rolpa district on Tuesday.

According to the police, four people including a woman died while 19 people including eight women were injured in the accident that occurred in ward 7 of the rural municipality at around 1pm.

Inspector Prakash Bhusal, information officer at the District Police Office, informed that the speeding passenger bus with registration number Na 5 Kha 2612, heading for Ghorahi in Dang district from Baghmara in Rolpa, fell some 150 metres from the road into a stream after losing control.

Local eyewitnesses said that two buses, operating along the Sahid Marga, en route to Dang were competing with each other and overtaking dangerously resulting in the accident.

Police have detained the driver of the bus Humraj Basnet, 24, of Hapur in Ghorahi Sub-Metropolitan City-12. Basnet also sustained injuries in the accident.

Bhusal informed that the identities of all the deceased and injured have been established.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Shyam Saru Magar of the District Police Office, said that the bodies of the victims have been retrieved from the accident site and the injured have been sent to health facilities for treatment.