As he gets ready to descend the cliff where the remains of his four teachers and their vehicle are located more than 300 meters below, Kinley Penjor pulls his robe tighter around his waist. On January 13, a terrible accident happened in Jantabir, 3 km from Gelephu. The victims were on their way back from Bartsham Ka village for an annual ceremony. Lopon Nada, also known as Drungchhen Tshewang Jamtsho, was operating his Creta vehicle. Some believe that drunk driving was the cause of the accident, which happened on a steep cliff. Recovery attempts have failed, and Jantabir is notoriously prone to accidents.
The bodies were recovered yesterday evening following three days of nonstop search and recovery efforts. SSP Colonel Namgay of Gelephu, who remained on the scene during the operation, clarified that the challenging terrain made the work more difficult. Rappelling was used to recover the two bodies—one stranded on the cliff and the other below with no way out. The first two days of the search and rescue operation involved using a drone to locate the bodies, and then using rappelling techniques to try to retrieve them. However, the 200-meter climbing rope was unable to reach the wreckage site, so the operation had to be abandoned after nearly three hours.