‘DRIVER WAS TRYING TO SAVE MOTORCYCLIST’

NURPUR: Even as the exact cause of the school bus accident in Nurpur that claimed 27 lives is yet to be ascertained, however, there are different versions on how it happened.

Nine-year-old Ranveer Singh, who is among the 11 children who miraculously escaped the fatal accident, claimed that the driver of the bus tried to save a motorcycle coming from the opposite direction. “Driver steered the bus to one side, after which the bus started rolling down. I and a girl sitting next to me fell from a broken window of the bus,” said Ranveer, who is being treated at Nurpur civil hospital, adding that he crawled up the steep slope and informed a motorcyclist and a shopkeeper nearby.

Ranveer’s father Suresh Kumar, who works as a plumber said, “It is a miracle that he returned alive. I am still not able to apprehend how he crawled up the steep slope.”

Another version is the driver must have got a sudden heart attack. “It may also be the reason as the bus rolled down from the wrong side of the road,” said Sumesh Raj Dogra, a neighbour of driver Madan Lal.

He remembered 65-year-old Lal as a level-headed person.

However, claims could not be verified independently.

VILLAGERS BLAME POOR ROAD CONDITION

Meanwhile, the villagers and family members blamed public works department for poor maintenance of the road. “Since it is a link road, authorities pay little heed to maintain the road,” said Randheer Singh, a local.

“PWD instead of constructing a retaining wall made a temporary arrangement by raising mud on hill-side. There were no warning signs,” another villager Dinesh Kumar said.

Kangra superintendent of police (SP) Santosh Patyal said police were probing from all angles and it would be too early too say what really happened.