Bettiah: A group of students from the Rajkiya Madhya Vidhalaya Bhagwanpur had a providential escape after criminals attacked their bus at Sariyatpur village under Pipra police station area of East Champaran, around 132km north of Patna, while they were returning from a government-sponsored outdoor tour on Saturday night.

Six students, including a girl, were injured after the attackers threw stones at the bus, beat up the students and attempted to loot them.

Chakiya sub-divisional police officer Shailendra Kumar said a hunt for the criminals was underway. "We have seized a motorcycle used by the perpetrators. They would soon be nabbed," he said.

A group of 45 students, including 25 girls, had gone to Thawe (Gopalganj) and Kushinagar (UP) as part of the Mukhyamantri Darshan Yojana.

They were near Bhagwanpur on their way back when some persons signalled to the driver to stop the vehicle around 9.30pm.

"Ignoring it as I whizzed past them, a loud sound rang out and the students started crying. I stopped the bus a short distance away when I came to know two students were injured by stones thrown from outside," said Raju Ram, the driver.

"One of the students had fallen unconscious, while the other was writhing in pain," he added. But even before first-aid could reach the injured students, four criminals armed with lathis had reached the bus on a motorcycle.

"They stormed the bus and started searching our belongings and misbehaving," said Umesh Sharma, a teacher accompanying the students. "When we protested, one of them advanced menacingly towards a student, Javed Alam, and thrashed him even as we kept pleading."

Four other students were also injured in the attack.

The criminals fled from the scene, leaving their motorcycle behind, after local villagers came to the students' rescue.

The police reached the spot and hospitalised the injured students at a private clinic in Pipra.

Recalling the experience, a girl said in a video message that she could identify all the four criminals by face.