We shouted but driver was busy on phone: Survivor

UP: Train-van crash kills 13 kids

Thirteen children on their way to school were killed on Thursday when a train rammed into their van at an unmanned railway crossing in Kushinagar, leaving bloodsplattered bodies, water bottles and school bags strewn around.

Five others were injured as the Thawe-Kapatanganj passenger train hit the van carrying 25 people, mostly children from Divine Mission School, at 7 am.

Local people who rushed to the level crossing gate at Behpurva, about 50 km from Gorakhpur, saw bodies of children, aged between 8 and 10 lying about. Three of the dead were from the same family.

Some eyewitnesses said the driver, who is among the injured, tried to speed across the level crossing even when onlookers tried to draw his attention to the approaching train, reports PTI.

A schoolboy said that the driver was also talking on his mobile phone at that time.

"We were shouting and asking uncle to stop, but he did not do so, as he was very busy on phone and was unable to listen us," Krishna Verma (9), who suffered a leg injury, said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was "deeply pained" over the accident.

"As I was coming to you, I got the sad news from Uttar Pradesh's Kushinagar about the train ramming into a school bus in which children were travelling (and that) many children have been killed,” he said at a BJP meeting in poll-bound Karnataka.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi also expressed grief.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who reached Kushinagar to get a first-hand account, faced protests from the local people.

An angry crowd at the accident spot raised slogans against the railways and local authorities. Some protesters squatted on the tracks demanding that railway personnel should be posted at the unmanned crossing to avoid such accidents.

The train was on way to Gorakhpur from Siwan. The gate 45 near Dudhi station falls in the railways' Varanasi division.

The level crossing was described as `unmanned', with no barrier to stop road traffic. However, a`gate mitra' (railway volunteer) was posted there.

An official spokesperson said the ‘gate mitra’ tried to stop the van from crossing the tracks, but failed.

The accident comes just days after a bus carrying schoolchildren fell into a gorge in Himachal Pradesh's Kangra district, killing over 20.