An eight-year-old schoolboy died and a schoolgirl sustained grievous injuries when a private van carrying them along with eight other students of Rosary School in Model Town was hit by a speeding goods carrier autorickshaw in North Delhi’s Timarpur area on Tuesday afternoon. The girl is battling for her life at Civil Lines Trauma Centre. Seven other students and the driver of the van too received injuries.
The accused 21-year-old auto driver, Salman, a resident of Azadpur, has been arrested, police said.Both Maruti Eeco school van and the goods carrier turned turtle. It is suspected that the school van driver too was speeding. The van reportedly overturned four times before coming to a halt. The impact was so severe that all the window panes of the van shattered, said a passerby.
The students and the driver were immediately evacuated by commuters. All the injured were taken to a nearby hospital where eight-year-old Vaibhav succumbed to his injuries.
“One girl with injuries has been admitted in trauma centre, Civil Lines. There were reportedly ten students in the van, all from Rosary School, Model Town,” said a senior police official. “A case under Sections 279, 337 and 304A of the IPC has been registered and the driver Salman (21) has been arrested,” he added.
According to Delhi Police data, a total of 6,532 challans were issued to school vans for traffic violations in 2018, compared to 2,183 in 2017. Earlier on April 26, a seven-year-old girl died and 17 other children were injured when an overloaded school van was rammed by a milk tanker.