Himal Press 
ITAHARI: Two employees of the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), including a driver, were killed and another was injured after a utility vehicle carrying a maintenance team crashed while en route to restore power supply in Sunsari on Monday night.
According to the District Police Office, Sunsari, the vehicle belonging to the NEA’s Dharan Distribution Center lost control and crashed at around 11:40 pm on the Koshi Highway in Itahari Sub-metropolitan City-20, about 200 meters south of Seuti Bridge toward Tarahara.
Although the driver, Birkha Bahadur Rai (33) of Dharan-13, and Suman Acharya (49) of Dharan-16, were rescued and rushed to the BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences (BPKIHS) in Dharan, they succumbed to injuries at around 12:45 am.
Padam Rai (32) of Dharan-20 was injured in the crash. He suffered injuries to his forehead and chest and is undergoing treatment at BPKIHS, police say. He is said to be conscious and able to speak.
Preliminary investigations show that the vehicle was traveling at high speed and went out of control before the crash, police say.
According to Hariram Pokharel, chief of the NEA’s Dharan Distribution Center, the maintenance team had been dispatched at around 9:54 pm after a fault was detected on the Duhabi–Dharan 33 kV transmission line.
“The team was on its way to carry out repairs to restore electricity supply when the accident occurred before they could reach the site, resulting in the loss of two employees,” Pokharel said.
