Patna, April 15: An overcrowded school bus today turned turtle on the outskirts of the city after its driver lost control over the vehicle while trying to prevent a collision with a tanker. Ten students suffered injuries and a teacher died of shock, fearing the worst for her two children travelling in the bus.

Police, however, claimed that only eight people, including three students, were injured in the accident. Of them, two children had broken noses.

The bus, belonging to a private operator, was carrying 47 students and three teachers of the CBSE-affiliated The Earth Public School. The educational institute is in Sripalpur area of Punpun. The bus was on its way to school after picking up students from the Phulwari area. The accident occurred around 7.30am on National Highway 83 near Vadhpur area under Parsa Bazaar police station.

“We did not understand what went wrong. The bus suddenly tilted towards the left. Then, it turned turtle. After five somersaults it fell into an empty field,” said a Class IX student, visibly shocked by the incident.

He said: “Many of us were trapped in the bus. We were terrified and started shouting. The door was jammed. We did not know how to get out. Some of the people passing by helped us come out through the window.”

The students said their buses were overcrowded most of the time. Even this morning, many of them were forced to travel standing.

“Sometimes we even have to sit on the floor of the bus,” the student added.

“It was very scary. The road is very narrow and there is a steep downward slope. The last thing we knew was the tanker heading towards us,” said Sanjeev Ranjan, another student.

Sanjeev said: “The tanker was occupying most of the road. There was hardly any place for our bus. The driver swerved sharply and the rear wheels of the bus slipped over the side of the road.”

He also said: “The bus was overcrowded. The driver couldn’t control it and it fell into the field adjacent to the road.”

When the bus swerved off the road, the driver, identified as Mohammed Naushad, and the helper, fled. But thanks to a few Good Samaritans, those trapped in it were rescued. They smashed the windscreen of the bus and rescued the students and the teachers.

The injured were taken to Jai Matadi Nursing Home.

Meena Srivastava, one of the teachers travelling in the bus, died fearing the worst for her children, Yash Kumar and Rishita — students of the same school and her co-passengers in the unfortunate bus.

Ravi Shankar Singh, principal, The Earth Public School, told The Telegraph that Srivastava was not seriously injured. “We too got know that she was in a state of shock after being taken out of the bus. With her two children still trapped inside, she feared the worst and collapsed,” Singh said.

He added: “It could have been a case of a sudden cardiac arrest. This is a very unfortunate incident.”

Singh, however, refused to accept the allegations of overcrowding in the school bus. “This is not true. We have five buses and none of them are ever overcrowded,” he said.

The school has a total strength of 800 but many pupils come to the school on bicycles or other modes of transport, the principal added.

Police said the cause of Srivastava’s death is not clear.

“The body has been sent for post mortem. Things will be clear only after we get the report,” said a police officer at Parsa Bazaar police station.

The officer added: “Her family members said there were few injury marks on her body. Srivastava is a resident of Harishchandra Nagar in Sipara area of Patna.”

Eyewitnesses were also shocked by the accident.

One of them said: “The police took too long to arrive. We broke open the windscreen and rescued the trapped children and teachers.”

The police recently came up with a list of do’s and don’ts for the school bus drivers in the city and made five years’ experience mandatory for them.

Nobody was sure of Naushad’s experience, though. Singh said: “The driver was with us for two years. We are not sure of what he did before that.”