 |
|
The school bus after the accident in Dhanbad on Thursday and (below) injured students at sadar hospital, some of the survivors have lunch at Govindpur police station and a girl being taken for treatment. Pictures by Gautam Dey |
 |
 |
 |
Dhanbad, Feb. 21: Nineteen students and a teacher from a Bengal school were injured when an overcrowded bus hired for an educational tour in Bihar-Jharkhand overturned on NH-2, 15km from Dhanbad district headquarters, in the small hours of Thursday.
According to some of the victims, the young driver of the bus was speeding on the highway and checking messages on his mobile phone at the same time, leading to the accident near Deoli in Govindpur around 3.50am. Police said the driver, whose identity is yet to be ascertained, and his helper were absconding.
Superintendent of Patliputra Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) Arun Kumar said most of the injured were released after first aid. “However, three students — Muslim Khan (14), Suryakant Maiti (15) and Vishwajit Sit (13) — have been referred to Mission Hospital in Durgapur (Bengal) because their injuries are of serious nature,” he added.
Govindpur police said 84 people, including 55 students, from West Midnapore’s Rampur Deshpran Vidyapeeth began the tour on a luxury bus — with seating capacity for only 65 — on February 17. They visited places like Nalanda, Rajgir, Bodhgaya and Pawapuri in Bihar and were headed for Maithon in Dhanbad district when the bus hit a road divider near Deoli and overturned.
All the injured were taken to PMCH, where they were attended by a team of four senior doctors and a dozen nurses. After being released from hospital, they were brought to Govindur police station around 10am and offered refreshment. A bus has been arranged to take them back to Pingla in West Midnapore in the evening.
Speaking to reporters at the police station, headmaster Shankar Kumar Das recalled that he had seen the driver fiddling with his cellphone just before the accident. “Everybody was sleeping. I was half-asleep too, but can faintly remember having seen him (the bus driver) checking messages on his mobile phone. And, the bus was in high speed.”
Bengali teacher Lakshmi Kant Dey said the impact of the accident was so strong that he lost consciousness. “When I regained my senses, I found myself under a seat. I thanked god for saving me and others.”
Govindpur OC Abhay Shankar confirmed that the bus was speeding. He said they had lodged a case and were trying to track down the driver.
|
