Parents complained about ‘drunk’ driver before mishap

CHANDIGARH/ROHTAK: A state of gloom engulfed Jhaadhli and Dhanaunda hamlets in Haryana’s Mahendergarh district as six children, all students of primary and secondary classes of a private school, were killed after their school bus, allegedly being driven rashly by a drunk driver, crashed into a tree and overturned on Thursday morning.

What was more heartwrenching for the grief-stricken families was the fact that some parents of school children at Kheri village had snatched the key from the bus driver in the morning and informed school principal about the drunk driver.

“However, the principal told the parents to give back the key to the bus driver as the children are getting late. She assured the parents that a new bus driver will come from tomorrow,” Sanjay Kumar, a farmer from Jhaadhli village, said. “I have lost my son Yuvraj, a class 9 student, in this mishap,” he said.

Signs of lives cut short, dreams shattered strewed the accident site, near Unhani village in Kanina, with school bags, shoes, water bottles and study material spread across the road. Some students lay motionless in a pool of blood and others, writhing in pain, cried for help around 8.30 am.

Unhani

Hearing the cries of the children, some passersby rushed to help, pulling out children from the severely damaged bus and rushed them to the nearest hospital. A doctor at the hospital told reporters that of the 20 injured children brought to the hospital, “four students were brought dead and one, who was put on ventilator support, succumbed to his injuries”.

The incident occurred when the bus with 37 children on board was on its way to the GL Public School. The driver, identified as Dharmender, was allegedly driving rashly and lost control of the bus, which overturned after ramming into a roadside tree, a senior police officer said.