Five children were killed and eight others were injured when their school van was hit by a speeding Varanasi bound train in an unmanned railway crossing in Mau district on Thursday morning.
“Varanasi bound Tamsa passenger train from Azamgarh hit a school van at unmanned railway gate at Ranipur police station. Five children died on the spot while an injured succumbed to his injures in the hospital,” District Magistrate Chandrakant Pandey told reporters in Mau.
The accident took place at around 8 in the morning when the victims, students of Dharam Deo Convent School, were going to the school. There were altogether 13 students in the van. The driver is among the injured.
“Majority of those killed were of the age group of 4-6 years and were sitting on the rear of the van,” the DM said. “Among the injured condition of three students is serious. They have been referred to Varanasi,” he said
Preliminary probe revealed that dense fog was the reason behind the accident but eye-witness claim that the driver was using earphones while he was crossing the tracks and might not have heard the sound of the approaching train.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has condoled the death of school children and has announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 2.5 lakh for the families of the deceased children and Rs 50,000 for the critical injury and Rs 20,000 for other injured.