27 children dead as school bus falls into deep gorge in Himachal Pradesh; rescue operations on

CHANDIGARH: Around 30 people including 27 school children, two teachers and a driver were killed after a school bus they were travelling in today fell into a 500-feet gorge near Nurpur in Himachal Pradesh.

Police sources said the accident took place near Gurchal village on Nurpur-Chamba road today afternoon around 3.30 pm. All the children belonged to Vazir Ram Singh Memorial Public School in Nurpur and hailed from villages in adjoining areas.  All the children were in the age group of 5 to 10 years and mostly studying in primary school and kindergarten. Of these, some 13 children were referred from the civil hospital of Nurpur to a private hospital at Pathankot and to Tanda medical college in Punjab of them one died and others are stated to be critical.

The school bus carrying around 45 students was on way to drop the children home after the school hours. Many children died on the spot. The driver of the bus 67-year-old Madam Lal an ex-serviceman was among the dead. While a teacher was identified as Rajesh. Many more bodies were still trapped in the mangled remains of the bus and the rescue teams were finding it difficult to retrieve the bodies from the mangled bus.

It is alleged that the driver of the bus gorge lost control on a sharp curve and the bus skidded into the gorge. The parents of the deceased children allege that the condition of the bus was in a poor condition. Balwant Singh, father of deceased children said that the school bus was in a poor shape. While the officials say that the poor condition of the road or some technical fault in the bus might be the reason for the accident.

An eyewitness said that the local villagers had begun rescue operation even before officials could reach the spot, a team of National Disaster Management Authority and local fire brigade who was involved in the rescue operations reached two hours late.

There were heart rendering scenes at the civil hospital of Nurpur in the hill state as the parents of deceased children were inconsolable and were finding it hard come to terms with their loss.

Confirming the deaths, Superintendent of Police of Kangra, Santosh Patial said, "The death toll could rise as many students were still trapped in the mangled body of the bus. The bus driver and two teachers were among the dead. All the dead students were below 10 years of age."

A magisterial inquiry has been ordered. Also, the state government has announced a relief of Rs 5 lakh per family of the deceased children.

Local BJP MLA Rakesh Pathania was also involved in rescue operation. Meanwhile, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur condoled the deaths. He said the state government would provide all possible assistance to the family members of deceased.