19 October 2004	Tuesday	04 Ramazan 1425

KATHMANDU, Oct 18: At least 18 people were killed and dozens injured in road accidents in various parts of Nepal on Monday as people began rushing home for Nepal's biggest Hindu festival of Dasain, police and media reports said.

Police said nine people were killed and some 50 others injured when a passenger bus bound from Kathmandu to Ramechhap, about 110 kilometres east of the capital, skidded off the road on Monday afternoon.

According to police, eight people died on the spot and one succumbed to injuries while undergoing treatment at Charikot in Dolkha district, just north of Ramechhap.

Separately, four people were killed and 25 others injured in a head-on collision between two passenger buses in the Paurahi area on the East-West Highway in Rautahat district, about 120 kilometres south-east of Kathmandu, on Monday morning.

Two more people, including a child, were killed on the spot after being hit by a passenger bus in Saptari district, about 210 kilometres south-east of the capital on Monday afternoon, the independent Kantipur FM radio reported.

The radio station also reported that a man was killed when a tractor overturned in Tehrathum district in far eastern Nepal.

In Rupandehi, about 225 kilometres south-west of the capital, two people travelling on a motorcycle died after being hit by a lorry, the radio station reported.

Most people travel during the Nepalese festival of Dasain and bus tickets are hard to secure. Air tickets, for those who can afford them, have to be booked months in advance.-dpa