9 killed, 5 injured in jeep accident in western Nepal

KATHMANDU, June 17 (Xinhua) -- At least nine people were killed and five others seriously injured when a passenger jeep skidded off road in Bajhang district of western Nepal on Monday afternoon, local authorities said.

Ram Bahadur Sarki, the assistant district chief of Bajhang, told

Xinhua via phone that nine dead bodies were recovered from the crash site.

"We are now preparing to airlift seriously injured people to hospitals based in Kathmandu for treatment," he said.

According to the official, the accident occurred when the jeep skidded off the highway and plunged down a mountainous slope in Masta rural municipality, some 500 km west of Nepal's capital Kathmandu.

The local police will launch probe into the accident, the official said.