KATHMANDU: Security personnel, including divers, resumed search operations early Tuesday for three people who went missing after their car plunged into the Sunkoshi River following a collision with a bus in Sindhuli.

The accident occurred on Monday along the Mid-Hill Highway at Nawalpur in Fikkal Rural Municipality-2, where a bus struck a car carrying three occupants, sending it about 30 metres off the road into the swollen river.

Police identified the missing driver as 39-year-old Dil Kumar Lama of Jugal Rural Municipality-7, Sindhupalchok. Also missing are 17-year-old Suraj Balampaki of Tinpatan Rural Municipality-9, Sindhuli, and around 28-year-old Ganesh Thapa of Golanjor Rural Municipality-1, Sindhuli. Police said Thapa worked as an excavator operator, while Balampaki was a helper.

“Search teams, including divers, were deployed from early Tuesday morning,” said DSP Bijay Shrestha, spokesperson for the Sindhuli District Police Office. “Neither the submerged vehicle nor the missing occupants have been located so far.”

He said search efforts have been hampered by strong currents and flooding in the Sunkoshi River caused by continuous rainfall.

According to police, the car, bearing registration number Bagmati Province 3-01-024 Cha 9573, was travelling from Khotang to Kathmandu when it was hit by a bus travelling in the opposite direction from Kathmandu to Okhaldhunga.

A joint search operation involving divers from the Armed Police Force’s Disaster Management Base in Khurkot, led by Inspector Nirendra Gurung, and personnel from the Nepal Police is underway.

Following the accident, police detained the bus driver, 26-year-old Hem Bahadur Tamang of Fikkal Rural Municipality-6, Sindhuli, for further investigation.