The Hindu : Front Page : Another bus, another tragedy

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 10, 2007
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Another bus, another tragedy

Staff Reporter

50-year-old man killed, 26 children injured as rashly driven school bus overturns

NEW DELHI: Even as the Delhi Government was planning a crackdown on the killer Blueline buses that have claimed over 60 lives in the Capital so far this year, a rashly driven RTV school bus overturned near a traffic intersection in Preet Vihar here on Monday, killing a 50-year-old man and injuring 26 students of Kendriya Vidyalaya at AGCR Colony.

The deceased has been identified as Sulaiman, who was accompanying his son Imran to school to deposit his tuition fee. Eighteen of the injured were rushed to Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital, while eight were taken to nearby Metro Hospital and discharged after first-aid.

“Sadhna and Aman, who suffered head injuries, are said to be serious but out of danger,” said Principal Ikram-ul-Haq, who learnt about the accident after reaching school in the morning.

All children are aged between nine and 16 years.

A case of rash driving and causing death due to negligence has been registered against driver Sanjay and he has been arrested. Sanjay, who also owns the vehicle, had vanished from the scene after the accident.

The accident took place around 6-30 in the morning when the speeding bus coming from Laxmi Nagar overturned while negotiating a turn near an intersection on Vikas Marg.

“The driver took a sharp turn to his left to avoid colliding with a car coming from the opposite direction, lost control, and the bus overturned. Sulaiman Uncle, who was standing at the gate, was seriously injured,” said Neha Verma, a Class X student, who was seated just behind the driver in the bus. She injured her arm in the accident.

Vendor Islam Ali, who was among the first to reach the spot, said: ``I had just opened my stall when I heard a loud noise. I rushed to the spot and found that a school bus had overturned. The children trapped inside were screaming for help. We broke the rear windowpane and pulled out the children. An elderly man was trapped under the bus. Luckily a crane that happened to pass that way was deployed to lift the bus and the man was pulled out.”

“Soon passers-by also gathered and helped to rush the injured to hospitals. Some of them provided their mobile phones to the children to ring up their parents and inform them about the accident. The police also reached within minutes,” said Govind, who owns a tea stall in Preet Vihar. “It is difficult to tell whether the accident was caused by brake failure. It will be known only after a mechanical examination of the vehicle,” said a police officer.

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