Kushinagar Accident: 13 Children Killed as Train Hits School Van at Unmanned Railway Crossing
The children, students of Divine Public School, were killed on the spot.
Updated:April 26, 2018, 8:49 AM IST
New Delhi: Thirteen children were killed and eight others injured when their school van was hit by a train at an unmanned railway crossing in Uttar Pradesh’s Kushinagar area, around 50km from Gorakhpur, on Thursday morning.
The children, students of Divine Public School, were killed on the spot when Thawe-Kapatanganj passenger train (55075) crashed into the van at an unmanned crossing gate at Behpurva, said Railways spokesman Ved Prakash. The train was on way to Gorakhpur from Siwan.
There were at least 25 people, including children who were below the age of 10 years, the official said.
"It was unmanned level crossing gate at Behpurva, with Gate Mitra deployed there. He tried to stop but unfortunate incident happened at unmanned gate 45 near Dudhi station in Banaras division," the spokesperson said in New Delhi.
An accident relief medical train from Gorakhpur has been dispatched to the site, he said.
Expressing condolence, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh for the families of the victims and directed Gorakhpur commissioner to conduct an inquiry into the accident.
This is the second such accident to claim lives of school children this month. On April 10, 27 children below the age of 10 had died when their school bus fell into a 100-feet deep gorge in Himachal Pradesh’s Kangra.
With PTI inputs