At least 17 Indian pilgrims including nine women were killed and 28 others injured today when the bus carrying them plunged some 100 metres from a mountain highway at Naubise village, 75-km east of Kathmandu.
The pilgrims from Gujarat were returning to Gorakhpur in India after a visit to Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu.
Patel told PTI over phone that he had requested the External Affairs Ministry to direct the officials of Indian embassy in Nepal to oversee the rescue and relief operation and also remain present at every hospital where the injured are being treated.