BATALA: SCHOOL BUS OVERTURNS IN BURNING FIELD, 2 CHILDREN HURT
Police say they have booked the bus driver for negligence and a farmer, who is yet to be identified, for setting the wheat straw on fire
: Two students received burn injuries after their school bus caught fire after overturning into a field where stubble was burning near Bijliwal village in Batala on Wednesday.
The police said two children were injured in the incident. “There were nine children on the bus. Two of them received burn injuries. One of them is undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Batala while the other one was discharged after getting the first aid. Her condition is stable,” said Qila Lal Singh station house officer (SHO) Sukhinder Singh.
AMRITSAR : Two students received burn injuries after their school bus caught fire after overturning into a field where stubble was burning near Bijliwal village in Batala on Wednesday.
The police said two children were injured in the incident. “There were nine children on the bus. Two of them received burn injuries. One of them is undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Batala while the other one was discharged after getting the first aid. Her condition is stable,” said Qila Lal Singh station house officer (SHO) Sukhinder Singh.
However, according to eyewitnesses, there were 35 students on the bus which belonged to Guru Har Rai Public School at Qila Lal Singh village.
The incident took place at 1 pm when the bus was going to drop the students home after school. The bus was destroyed in the incident.
When the bus reached Bijliwal village, it overturned in a field in which the stubble was on fire. A huge plume of smoke enveloped the area. The driver of the bus could not control the vehicle through the smoke and ended up trapped in the fire, they said. The field is situated along the link road of Bijliwalnawan Pind village. The villagers managed to rescue the children from the bus, the police said.
“Due to the stubble burning, a huge plume of smoke enveloped the area. The driver instead of stopping the bus tried to pass through the stretch, but it overturned into the burning field. There were around 35 children on the bus. The villagers managed to rescue the children. Some of the rescuers also received minor burn injuries. The driver of the bus should have restrained from passing through the stretch,” said Pawan Kumar, a villager.
The sarpanch of Bijliwal village Jagtar Singh said, “As far as I am aware, around four children had received burn injuries.”
The police have registered a case under Sections 279 (rash driving), 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others), 337 (causing hurt), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of Rs 50) and 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code against the bus driver, identified as Jagpreet Singh (35) and some unidentified persons who had set the field on fire.
“On Wednesday, around 50 fields had caught fire in and around the village. Someone had set his field on fire and it spread to the other fields due to the gusty wind,” the sarpanch said.
The SHO said their teams were working to find who was behind the burning of the fields. “The fire was in many fields. We are trying to ascertain the name of the farmer from whose field the fire spread,” he added.