Seven people including a child died and seven other passengers sustained injuries when a passenger jeep crashed in Rolpa district on Monday.

According to Chief District Officer Khim Bahadur Rayamajhi, the jeep heading to Talabang of Madi Rural Municipality from Ghartigaun of the same local unit veered off the road and fell some 400 metres down along the Talabang-Ghartigaun road section.

The injured are being treated at Rolpa District Hospital. Three of the seven are critically injured. The local administration is preparing to send the critically injured ones including a three-year-old child outside the district for further treatment. The child’s mother lost her life in the incident.

The Post talked to some of the rescuers at the hospital. According to them, five of the passengers had already died on the spot or on the way to the hospital while two were declared dead by the district hospital.

According to them, the vehicle, which left for Talabang at around 4 pm, crashed at around 5:30 pm.

“The road at the crash site was damaged by a landslide. At first, the driver checked the road condition and went ahead but couldn’t cross the dangerous section,” a rescuer told the Post. The driver has also sustained injuries.

Amar Singh Gharti, chair of the rural municipality, CDO Rayamajhi and district police chief, among other local officials, were active in facilitating the situation at the hospital.

Family members and other relatives of the deceased and the injured were arriving at the hospital until 11 pm.