In a tragic incident, six children and the driver of their school bus were killed on Saturday when the vehicle fell into a gorge in Himachal Pradesh’s Sirmaur district.
The accident in which 12 schoolchildren were also injured occurred in Sangrah town around 8 am.
“A private bus carrying students of DAV School, Renuka, fell into a gorge. Seven people — six schoolchildren and the bus driver —
were killed,” Superintendent of Police, Sirmaur, Rohit
Malpani said.
Four people — Samir (5), Adarsh (7), Kartik (14) and driver Ram Swaroop (40) — died on the spot. Abhishek, his sister Sanjana and Naitik Chauhan succumbed to their injuries at the Nahan Medical College, the SP said.
Twelve people injured in the accident have been hospitalised. The condition of some of them is critical, he said.
Ten of the 12 injured schoolchildren were identified as Sandhaya, Rakshita, Anjali, Rajiv, Aayush, Vaishanvi, Dhruv, Mannat, Aarushi and Sunder Singh. Deputy Commissioner, Sirmour, Lalit Jain has asked Sub Divisional Magistrate, Sangrah, Rajesh Dhiman to conduct a detailed inquiry into the incident and submit a report within 15 days.
Jain also asked Dhiman to disburse an immediate relief of `20,000 to kin of those killed and `10,000 the injured.
The State Government in November banned plying of school buses older than 15 years after a school bus accident in Nurpur town in Kangra district that claimed 28 lives, including 24 students in the age group of nine to 12 years.
The new rules include that drivers above 60 years of age will be debarred from driving and a driver must have a five-year experience of driving heavy vehicles. The driver will also have to undergo eye check-up every year.
The new guidelines are applicable to all modes of transport, including buses
and small vehicles like cabs
and vans.