Train, bus collision kills 25 school children in Telangana
People looking at the damaged school bus that was hit by a train in Medak on Thursday. Photo: PTI.
Twenty five schoolgoers and the driver of their bus were killed when
the Nanded-Secunderabad passenger train rammed into it at an unmanned
railway crossing at Chegunta in Masaipet village of Veldurthi mandal in
Medak district on Thursday.The children, aged between seven
and 14, from Islampur and Zakeerpalli villages, were on their way to the
Kakatiya Technol School in Toopram when tragedy struck at 9.10 am.
While most of them were killed on the spot in the mangled remains of the
bus, that was dragged for nearly a kilometer, others who were pulled
out died on the way or succumbed to injuries in hospitals. There were 40
students on board the bus. The toll may rise as many of the injured are
in a critical condition.
Nearby villagers, gathered at the
accident site, accused the South Central Railway of having left the
railway crossing gate, barely 70 kms from Hyderabad, unfinished despite
repeated reminders of the flow of traffic. Grieving parents accuse the
bus driver of speeding and negligence while crossing the railway line.
But some eyewitnesses say that the bus driver did not notice the
oncoming train and that led to the gory accident.
People near the accident site in Medak on Thursday. Photo: PTI.
Telangana
chief minister K. Chandrasekhara Rao has expressed his shock at the
tragedy which also happened in his native Medak district. He deputed
three ministers - T. Harish Rao (Irrigation), G. Jagadeeshwar Reddy
(Education) and Padma Rao ( Excise) - to the tragedy site and the
hospitals where the injured children were taken.
Accidents at
unmanned railway crossings are common and in spite of several
initiatives to place gates and have it manned the pace of progress is
agonizingly slow.
The children, aged between seven and 14, were on their way to the Kakatiya Technol School. Photo: PTI.
Though
the Indian Railways pride in being the world's largest ferrying 20
million in 11,000 odd trains every day the safety record is wanting with
accidents blamed on poor maintenance and human error.An
inquiry will now determine what led to the latest accident but it is
likely to impact less on the negligence of the railways in installing
gates and manning the 12,582 road - rail crossings across the country
that are veritable death traps.
