5 killed in school vehicle accidents

Five teenagers were killed as two vehicles, carrying mostly children on their way to school, met with accidents on the city’s roads on Wednesday morning. Of the five, three were students, reports HT Correspondent.

Five teenagers were killed as two vehicles, carrying mostly children on their way to school, met with accidents on the city’s roads on Wednesday morning. Of the five, three were students.

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The first accident occurred at 8.15 a.m. near the Metcalfe House bus stop on the Ring Road, near the Inter State Bus Terminus in Kashmere Gate, north Delhi.

“An overloaded minibus — largely carrying school children from their northeast Delhi homes to Kashmere Gate — toppled over after its left rear wheel got punctured and the driver lost control,” said a police officer.

Three teenagers standing on the vehicle's footboard for want of space were crushed to death instantly while 20 other were seriously injured.

Of the three, two were students.

“They fell face-first on the road as soon as the vehicle hit the ground, and died on the spot,” the officer added.

Ten kilometres away, at about the same time, a Delhi Transport Corporation bus full of school children in Ashok Vihar, north Delhi, ran over two siblings when their motorcycle slipped while taking a sharp turn.

Karan Pal Singh (16) was taking his 13-year-old sister Ishika to school when his motorcycle lost control and slipped while trying to dodge a hawker’s cart.

The siblings were run over by the approaching bus, the police said.

According to Delhi Police figures, 2,165 fatal road accidents were registered in 2009 as against 1,927 the year before.