Three students died after a truck crushed them on Monday when they had come out of the school campus apparently to drink water from a tubewell in the Lakshmipur area of Jamui district.

The three victims were identified as Mousam Kumar, 10, brother Mohit Kumar, 9, and Ansu Kumar, 10. Mousam and Ansu were in Class VII, while Mohit was in Class VI.

Kailash Singh, the station house officer of Lakshmipur police station, said: “The driver of the truck lost control and went on to hit the three students of a private school. After hitting the boys, the truck rammed into a tree.”

The driver and the handyman had escaped by the time the police reached the spot. Singh said the truck was coming from Pakur in Jharkhand and was on its way to Jamui town.

The police could not confirm why the three students had to go out of the school to drink water. “We are trying to find out whether the school had drinking water facilities on its premises or not,” the station house officer said.

Residents said there are two tubewells on the campus of the school, but both are defunct. They also staged a blockade on Haveli Kharaghpur-Jamui road in protest against the accident.

Mousam and Mohit were the sons of Lallan Sha, while Ansu’s father is identified as Ajay Sha. Lallan and Ajay are residents of Lakshmipur.

District magistrate Mayank Warwade was not available for comment on the alleged lack of drinking water facilities in schools.