DHARAMSALA: At least 30 persons, including 27 students, were killed as a school bus owned by a private school, Wazir Ram Singh Pathania, fell into a deep gorge near
Malkwal area of
Nurpur constituency in Himachal Pradesh on Monday.
Himachal Pradesh transport minister Govind Singh Thakur confirmed to PTI that the dead included 27 students. The bus driver, 67-year-old Madan Lal, and two women teachers also died in the accident, Kangra SP Santosh Patial said.
The 42-seater bus was on its way to drop students to their homes when it plunged off the mountain road and into the gorge. Authorities said the total number of students in the bus was not confirmed as rescue operations were still under way.
Expressing grief over the accident, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed solidarity with the parents of the dead students.
Chief minister Jai Ram Thakur has announced an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh each for the family of the persons killed in the accident.
Earlier, SDM Nurpur Abid Hussain said 20 bodies had been recovered with the help of local volunteers and police. “It was expected that more bodies would be recovered; those injured were sent to nearby hospitals,” he said.
The Himachal Pradesh government has ordered a team of doctors to remain on standby. “A team of 50 doctors was standing on emergency doors, including pediatricians, doctors from Orthopaedics and ENT,” principal of Dr. RPGMC Tanda at Kangra told TOI.
SP Santosh Patial said the number of students in the bus was expected to be around 40, but "the exact number was not confirmed". Most of those killed were students of elementary classes, aged below ten.
List of names of those killed in the bus accident.
“I am on the spot. My first priority was to save the lives. Getting the details of fitness of the bus and all other reasons for the accident will follow,” he said.
District commissioner Sandeep Kumar said they would be giving financial and other kind of assistance to all the affected families. “We are on the job. Every kind of assistance will be provided to the affected families,” he said.
(With inputs from PTI)
