Narrow escape for 12 children as bus topples

While there were no major injuries, the Shivaji Nagar police have booked the driver for negligence as he was allegedly speeding

Ambernath As many as 12 children had a narrow escape when a bus ferrying the children, toppled outside a housing society in Ambernath. The bus driver was trying to reverse the vehicle when the bus overturned.

The video of the bus toppling has gone viral on social media (HT Photo)

While there were no major injuries, the Shivaji Nagar police have booked the driver for negligence as he was allegedly speeding. The video of the bus toppling has gone viral on social media.

The police claimed that the bus was a private bus hired by the parents and the service did not belong to the school.

The incident happened around 6.50 am, on Monday at Green City society of Ambernath, when a mini bus came to pick up children of Green City society. All the children study at RCT PMM Inner Wheel School of Ambernath. The driver has been in service for the past four months and would pick up and drop off the 15 children of this society.

As seen in the CCTV footage, the driver took his mini bus on a slope in the society after picking all the children. Then he tried to reverse and wanted to turn right but he could not judge the turn and as he was speeding and back tyres went on the divider. The children fell on each other due to sudden toppling. Two of them suffered minor injuries on their hands. Parents and other residents who saw the incident immediately came to the rescue. Some held the bus driver and beat him up too.

Paresh Jagtap, one of the residents of Green City society, said, “It was such a terrible incident. All parents were scared. I was at the window and heard a crash and then shouts of parents. We immediately ran towards the vehicle and took out each of the children safely. Although all of them were scared, they were ready to go to school apart from two who suffered minor injuries on their hands. There are five to 10 standard children who have been travelling daily on this bus. The bus was poorly maintained; the tire had loosened and needed to be changed. We learned that the maintenance of the bus has not been done for more than two years, despite being used to ferry children.”

Senior police inspector, Ashok Bhagat said, “The bus driver is identified as Sanket Utekar, 22. We have immediately taken action against the accused driver and sent all his car papers to RTO. His insurance on the vehicle expired. He has been booked under IPC 279. The bus was privately booked by parents of the society. The school doesn’t have any bus service.”