Dozer gets trapped in Marsyangdi River, operator rescued safely

MANANG : A Bulldozer got trapped on a motorable bridge over the Marshyangdi River at Chame, the district headquarters of Manang.

Chief District Officer Bishnu Lamichhane said that the heavy vehicle and its operator were trapped in the course of extracting wood and other solid materials like sand and stone brought by the river from upstream.

“If the weather turns favorable, we will try to get the heavy equipment back,” he said.  Currently, the trans-Himalayan district in Gandaki Province is under the grip of monsoon flooding.

Mukesh Kumar Kushwa, 27, of Barahathawa Municipality-7, Sarlahi, has been rescued.  The district has only one heavy equipment of Caravan Company to use for clearing obstruction in the natural course of the river which has swollen following heavy rainfall.

The deposition of sand, logs and stones in the river at the bridge has caused the diversion of the river course, posing a threat to the nearby settlement.

The bridge constructed so low from the river initially trapped wood when the water level increased alarmingly due to the flood. After the obstruction, the river changed its natural course.