MP: 5 schoolchildren among 12 killed in bus-autorickshaw collision in Rajgarh

The speeding bus carrying around 30 passengers was moving towards Rajgarh from Biaora when it collided head on with an auto-rickshaw.

At least 12 people, including five children, were killed after a speeding bus collided head on with an autorickshaw in Rajgarh district of Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday.

The speeding bus carrying around 30 passengers was moving towards Rajgarh from Biaora when it collided head on with an auto-rickshaw. (Representational image)

According to the sources, the accident took place at around 5 pm on Tuesday when the auto-rickshaw was heading from Rajgarh city to Hirankhedi village 3.5km away. The autorickshaw, overloaded with 16 passengers, met with a speeding bus head-on near Kishangarh Ghats, which comes under Kalipeeth police station. The bus (MP 09 FA 2067) was carrying about 30 people from Biaora to Rajgarh.

As many as 11 people, including five school children of 10 to 12 years of age, died on the spot.

Eight people from the autorickshaw were injured in the accident, of which five seriously injured were referred to Bhopal for treatment while the remaining three were being treated at Rajgarh district hospital, police added. About 15 others travelling in the bus sustained minor injuries.

After the head-on collision, and the bus got off the road and turned turtle. The driver of the bus escaped soon, but the driver of the auto-rickshaw died on the spot.

Himani Khanna, Rajgarh superintendent of police, said the deceased five school children where coming back after appearing an open examination in a school in Rajgarh. “The operator of the bus has been identified by the police as one Birendra Singh Sondhia, also a resident of Hirankhedi village. Process is on to register a case against him and a police party has been sent to nab him as well as the absconding bus driver, Jagdish Tanwar,” said Khanna.

The home minister asked ATC to submit the report of the probe in the next 24 hrs. He has also asked the district administration to ensure that proper treatment is provided to the injured, the sources said.

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh each for the kin of the dead and Rs 25,000 each for those injured.