Baitadi, Nov 13 : The identity of nine people, who died in a bus plunge at Patan municipality-8 in Baitadi district, has been established.    

The deceased have been identified as Rana Bahadur Chand and Karan Singh Airee, both of Sittad in Dogadakedar-6, Kabindra Joshi, an employee for Dogadakedar rural municipality office, Tarkaraj Giri of Lekam rural municipality-4 in Darchula district, Jaganath Ojha of Malikarjun rural municipality-5, Kritika Karki of Tilachaur at Bhimdatta municipality-8 in Kanchanpur district, Bijjna Dhami of the municipality-10, Narendra Chaudhary of Dhangadhi Sub Metropolitan City-4 and Rishiram Chaudhary of the sub metropolis-18, said the district police office, Baitadi.  

  
Of the deceased, Kritika died at a hospital in Dadeldhura and other eight on the spot. Of 34 injured people in the accident including the driver of the ill-fated bus, 12 have been referred to Dhangadhi for further treatment and the rest 22 are being treated at Dadeldhura hospital, it has been said.    

A passenger bus (Na 5 Kha 5141) heading to Mahendranagar from Ganna in Baitadi district on Thursday night skidded off the road and plunged some 600 meters at a narrow turning at Khodpe of Patan municipality-8, Baitadi, killing nine passengers and injuring 34 others.

The bus driver fell asleep, thus leading the overcrowded bus to meet with the accident, said police preliminary investigations.