Four kids injured as Palghar school bus hits tree, driver booked for rash driving
PALGHAR : Four five-year-olds were injured while returning home from school on Monday afternoon when their school bus veered off the road and hit a tree in Palghar.
The bus, which was carrying 16 kindergarten students and a school staff member from an international school in Palghar, was heading towards Kelwe Road when the accident took place. The driver, 64-year-old Vishnu Patil, too, sustained head injuries.
All five injured were admitted to a private hospital.
Police said while Patil claimed one of the tyres burst after he crossed a small bridge, leading to him losing control of the bus, eyewitnesses told police the driver was speeding on a narrow road and that resulted in the vehicle’s roof almost com- ing apart after it hit the tree.
Patil, a retired state transport bus driver who has been employed with the school for the past six years, was not drunk at the time of the incident, said the police.
He has, however, been booked under sections 279 (rash driving); 337, 338 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety, causing grievous hurt); 427 (mischief causing damage) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC); and section 184 of the Motor Vehicle Act (driving dangerously).
“We will arrest Patil after he is discharged from the hospital,” said police sub-inspector Umesh Rote from Satpati Coastal police station.