HYDERABAD: More than a dozen students were injured when their school bus overturned while trying to race through a railway gate near the Lalaguda level crossing here on Saturday. Four of them were admitted to a hospital in Secunderabad while others were treated as outpatients.

The accident that sent shockwaves among parents and locality people had shattered the complacency about safety of children travelling in school buses in the twin cities. Though brake failure was cited as reason for the accident, it was obvious that the driver was trying to shoot past the railway line, before the gates were closed.

Shards of glass strewn all over the place and bloodstains do not tell the story of the accident as effectively as an injured girl, Ashwini. "We were coming back to our school in Shantinagar after a dance rehearsal for the school annual day. The gate closed and the driver applied brakes suddenly and the bus overturned. We all got hurt," recalls eight-year-old Ashwini, a third standard student of New Lilly Model High School.

There were more than 20 children and their school teachers in the mini bus, which had gone to the school branch in Jyothinagar in North Lallaguda and were returning to Shantinagar. The bus driver was negotiating the up gradient while attempting to race through the gates. But he did not succeed and had to apply the sudden brake.

"The bus then rolled back and toppled," recalled a local resident Srinivas. On seeing the accident, he rushed and pulled out a few children. As locality people joined him in rescue efforts, he called 108 to summon an ambulance.

Noor Jahan, mother of Nikhat Sultana, an injured student, said that children from the school came running to her house shouting that the bus met with an accident. "I rushed out". A seriously injured Nikhat Sultana was shifted to Yashoda hospital, where she is progressing.

Traumatic experience

It was a traumatic experience for the parents who ran to the accident spot and found the children in a shock. While some were taken home, the injured were treated at nearby hospital and later shifted to Yashoda Hospital. Doctors maintained that while Nikhat suffered concussions on her head, three children were under observation. Police registered a case of rash and negligent driving against the driver.

Secunderabad MLA T. Padma Rao, who visited the scene, said he had spoken to the school principal, who agreed to bear medical expenses. "I have asked him whether the bus was overloaded," Mr. Padma Rao added.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail