Two children were killed and more than 20 people were injured on Monday, November 2, after a minibus crashed and fell down a slope in Arghakhanchi district of Nepal's Lumbini province, according to media reports quoting district police.

Source: The Kathmandu Post via Free Press Journal

The minibus was travelling from Butwal to Purkotdaha when the accident occurred. The Kathmandu Post reported, quoting police, that the vehicle's brakes failed on a steep turn. A 10-year-old and a 13-year-old were killed, and the newspaper put the number of injured at 20.

My Republica reported a higher injured toll of 24 people, quoting the chief of the District Police Office, Arghakhanchi, Diwas GC, and said four of the injured were in critical condition.

Source: My Republica via Free Press Journal

District Police Office information officer Inspector Jhalak Prasad Sharma said the minibus was carrying 26 passengers, well above its 16-seat capacity, and that the accident was reported to have been caused by a combination of brake failure and overcrowding. The precise cause remains under police examination, and the overloading and brake-failure findings are reported police assessments, not final conclusions.

The names of the two children who died have not been published in the reports, and Awaaz Punjab is not naming them. The injured were taken for treatment after the crash; district authorities had not issued a final consolidated toll in the reports available at the time of publication.

Arghakhanchi, a hill district in Lumbini province, is served by steep winding roads where overloaded passenger vehicles and brake failures are a recurring road-safety concern in Nepal's hill districts.