A village in Himachal mourns 13 kids killed in road accident

NURPUR: Hundreds of villagers bade a tearful adieu to the 23 kids, who were killed after their school bus plunged into a 200-deep gorge on Monday evening.

All the road leading in the area were chock-a-block as mourner made a beeline to pay last respect to the departed souls.

Cries filled the air as the bodies of the kids were separated from their mothers, fathers, grandparents for the last journey. Khuwara village has suffered the maximum loss — 14 lives of which 13 were children. Other kids were from Ther, Suliyali, Khanora, Haar Gatla and Ther.

The bus plunged into the gorge just 200 metres from Khuwara.

Septuagenarian Nek Chand, stares at the sky or the mourners coming at his house to express condolence. Four of his grandchildren are among the dead.

In the family, two brothers Rajesh Jamwal and Naresh Singh have lost bother their kids. Rajesh lost daughter Palak (13) and son Bhavishya (10) while Naresh daughter Shrutika (11) and son Naitik also died in the mishap.

“I have offered my both kids to the God,” said Kusum Jamwal, wife of Rajesh, as she cries inconsolably. “My daughter wanted to become a nurse. My son wanted to join army. Who will become a nurse? Whom I will send to join army,” says Kusum. She said she once thought of shifting her daughter to a government school but the latter requested her to let her complete Class 12.

Her sister-in-law Kiran undergoing the same pain remembers that kids had gone to school happily. “They would be happy with a candy or a biscuits and were all intelligent,” said Kiran.

Simran, 17, the oldest and only surviving child in the house, blamed the bad road and indifferent attitude of the authorities towards the lack of facilities in villages. “They come to seek vote, make tall promises but forget after winning,” she rued.

Simran said that a few months ago, a truck had rolled down near the spot from where the bus veered off.

Also among the dead on Monday was 21-year-old Poonam Pathania, who took a lift on the fateful day. Her marriage was fixed next month and she had gone to Nurpur for shopping.