Bus carrying schoolkids overturns
A speeding minibus carrying schoolchildren overturned in east Delhi’s Preet Vihar on Monday morning, killing one and injuring several others, reports Ravi Bajpai.
A speeding minibus carrying schoolchildren overturned in east Delhi’s Preet Vihar on Monday morning, killing a parent and seriously injuring several of the students and a teacher.
Some children suffered serious injuries on their faces and the condition of two girls was critical, doctors treating them at various city hospitals said.
The police said the private minibus was carrying 25 children — apart from the teacher and parent — which was more than its capacity. All the children were students of Kendriya Vidyalaya, Karkardooma, most of whom lived in Pandav Nagar. Parents said the bus had been ferrying these students to their school for the past four years.
The accident took place around 6.40 a.m. at the traffic signal near Preet Vihar’s Block C. An eyewitness said the driver lost control after taking a right turn from the crossing. The bus swerved dangerously before it overturned, he said. Suleman Khan, 55, who was accompanying his son Imran to school, was crushed under the vehicle. He was standing on the bus’s stairwell.
The police registered a case of causing death due to negligence under Section 304A of the Indian Penal Code. The driver, identified as Sanjay, has been arrested, according to DCP (east) Ajay Chaudhery. The driver was being questioned.
The police said the vehicle used to operate as a Metro feeder bus during daytime. A Metro spokesman said they were not aware the bus used to ferry schoolchildren too.
The injured children were first taken to Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital and Metro hospital. Parents complaining of adequate facilities later shifted their children to other hospitals.