Lucknow: Four schoolkids hurt after school van collides with bus, overturns

LUCKNOW: Four schoolchildren suffered head and limb injuries on Monday morning after their van collided with a bus at Samtamulak Chowk due to rash and negligent driving of the van driver. This is the second such incident in the past five days.

Driver Shahrukh Khan
(20) also suffered head injuries but was later arrested on charges of gross negligence. Barely two years over the legal driving age, he did not have the five-year driving experience required for school vehicles.
Neither he nor the children sitting in the front seat were wearing seat belts. Police have also booked the van owner and school administration in the FIR, charging them with negligence that endangered life of children.
Khan, police said, was driving on the wrong side when the accident occurred around 6.40am. Instead of driving around the roundabout, he took a wrong turn at Samtamulak crossing and the van hit a UPSRTC bus coming from the opposite direction.
Back from the jaws of death: Child
The van turned turtle, injuring four students-—Shivani Yadav (10), Anurag Yadav (15), Sahana Khan (15) and Ankur Yadav (15)—all students of a private school in Virat Khand.
Locals rescued children and took them to hospital as well as informed their parents and police.
TOI visited the injured students in the hospital. Anurag, who suffered injuries on the head and shoulder, said he was in the front seat while his sister Shivani along with Sahana and Ankur was in the back seat.
“Neither I nor the driver was wearing the seat belt. As the van collided with the bus, I felt I would die. I lost consciousness for some time,” said a dazed Anurag. When he gained consciousness, he recalled, he heard Sahana and Shivani screaming.
“People around us had started helping us out of the van,” he said.
Class V student Shivani, who has diabetes, lost a lot of blood due to a head injury and cuts made by glass shattered from the window pane.
“I felt a shooting pain in the head after the accident and within seconds, blood was all over my face and clothes,” she narrated the horrifying incident.
Sahana, a class XI student, said, “After the car rolled over, I felt like I was going to die. There was blood everywhere and people had surrounded us. A man brought us to hospital in his car.”
Khan said he had started driving the school van about a week ago. Before that, he drove a pick-up truck for a dairy company for about one-and-ahalf years.
Shivani and Anurag’s father Raj Kumar (37) said he pays a fee to the school for van facility and therefore, the school is also accountable for ensuring safety of children.
Supporting Kumar’s statement, Sahana’s mother Resham Bano said, “My husband works abroad and there is no one to help me if something happens to my child.”
SP north Sukirti Madhav said, “We have registered a case of negligence against the school administration, vehicle owner and van driver.”
Assistant regional transport officer Sanjeev Gupta said, “As per guidelines, the school van driver must have five-year experience but here was a 20-year-old. A person can obtain a driving licence only after 18 years of age, hence he did not have the required experience. The owner has to ensure these guidelines are being adhered to.”