Search for former home minister Madhav Prasad Ghimire, who went missing after his jeep carrying seven persons plunged into Trishuli River on Sunday, continued throughout the day on Monday as well, with security personnel involved in the process failing to trace the missing till late evening.

The Kathmandu-bound jeep had veered off the road and plunged into the river at Dahrechok-3 in Chitwan district on Sunday evening.

Bodies of Ghimire’s mother and two other persons were recovered from the river on Sunday.

Ghimire, also a former chief secretary, and his two brothers Prakash Ghimire and Mohan Ghimire are still missing.

Bishnu Rai, the driver, who  had survived after jumping off the vehicle, is undergoing treatment.

Security personnel from the Nepal Army, Nepal Police and the Armed Police Force (APF) are involved in the search operation.

The rescuers have recovered Ghimire’s cell phone and his bag from the incident site.

“Water flow is very high in the area,” said an official involved in the search operation, hinting at the difficulty the rescuers were facing.

Security personnel under the command of DIG Ran Bahadur Chand have been deployed in Simaltal, Jugedi, Ramnagar, Devghat,

Gaidakot and Chanouli among other areas to search for the missing.

A police source quoted driver Rai as saying that Ghimire was driving the vehicle when the incident took place.

On Monday, Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Ramesh Lekhak inspected the incident site and instructed all the security agencies to leave no stone unturned to search the victims.

According to SP Basanta Kunwar, the incident site is one of the most accident-prone areas. A Kathmandu-bound truck had also fallen into the river from the same place about two weeks ago.