School van with 16 children crashes in Rohini, 3 injured HT Correspondent htreporters@hindustantimes.com
NEW DELHI: A private van ferrying 16 children to their school in Rohini lost control and turned on its side in outer Delhi’s Mangolpuri on Tuesday morning. Three children were injured in the mishap, said police.
The police said that the rest of the children received minor scratches or escaped unhurt. The driver of the van has been arrested.
The accident happened on Kanjhawala Road around 7.30am when the van was carrying the children -- aged between six and 12 years and from localities in Aman Vihar Sultanpuri and Krishna Vihar -- to a Kendriya Vidyalaya in Sector 22 in Rohini .
“Prima facie, the van was being driven at high speed and the driver lost control hitting into the road divider. After hitting the divider the van turned on the road and dragged for a few metres before coming to a halt,” said a police officer.
Passersby evacuated the children and took them to a nearby hospitals. They also alerted the parents of the children dialling the phone numbers written on their school diaries.
“A call was also made to the police control room and we sent a police team to the spot. From there, the driver was arrested. Among the injured children, some had minor scratches but three of them had more serious injuries, including one who sustained an injury on the head. All of them are out of danger now, according to the doctors,” said the officer.
The driver, identified as Prakash Kumar, 21, has been arrested. “It’s a case of overcrowding where the number of children travelling in the van was much more than its capacity. We are also checking if he held a licence and will write to the transport department for cancellation,” said another investigator.
Kendriya Vidyalaya said the van was privately arranged by the parents of the children. “The vehicle was privately hired by a group of parents and the school has nothing to do with it. We came to know of the accident in which our students were injured but two of them have been discharged,” a KV official said.
Senior police officers of outer district were unavailable for a comment. Deputy Commissioner of Police (outer) MN Tiwari said he was out of Delhi while Additional DCP I Rajender Singh Sagar’s phone was found to be switched off.