Nepal: Police recover 14 bodies from buried vehicles following heavy rains, landslides

The bodies were recovered after Police teams from Kathmandu and Dhading removed the debris late in the evening, an official said. The passenger vehicles were buried at Jhyaple Khola in the Dhading district.

"Teams from Dhading as well as Kathmandu are working on the search operation. The death toll may rise as more vehicles are buried under the debris," Senior Superintendent of Police Basant Rajoure confirmed to ANI over the phone.

As per the official, five bodies were recovered from the Lu 1 Ja 4578 microbus, while nine bodies were found in another bus, the registration of which has yet to be identified. The search operation is ongoing.

Around half a dozen vehicles were caught in the landslide, leading to the blockage of the key entry point into the valley.

The Nepal government on Saturday also decided to postpone all the ongoing exams and close all schools across the nation in wake of the ongoing rain-induced disaster in the nation.

Issuing a notice, Nepal's Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has conveyed all the local levels to halt the classes until Tuesday in schools across Nepal. As per the ministry, the decision has been made by an emergency cabinet meeting held earlier in the afternoon.

"Keeping in mind the safety of the students across the nation who have to traverse through disaster-hit zones, the Cabinet meeting has decided to close all lower secondary, secondary and higher secondary educational institutions for three days," Nepal's Education Minister Bidhya Bhattarai told ANI over the phone.

In addition, the Ministry has given the authority regarding the resumption of classes in the schools to the local levels assessing the damage and viability of running the school. The officials during the emergency meeting on Saturday also decided to halt the ongoing exams until further notice.

As many as 66 people have died in Nepal in the past 24 hours due to a rain-induced disaster after the activation of a climatic effect pounding the whole nation. (ANI)