At least 22 students were injured when a speeding truck lost its balance and rammed into a primary school building in an Orissa village on Wednesday, police said.
The students were taking midday meals in Gatanai village in Kendrapada district, some 100 km from state capital Bhubaneswar, Patakura police station in-charge Tapan Pradhan told IANS.
The injured were first admitted to the Community Health Centre (CHC) at Mahakalapada. Later 12 of them were shifted to the district government hospital at Kendrapada as their condition become critical.
Two students, Priyanka Parida and Bikram Parida of Class 5 were later shifted to the Sriram Chandra Bhanja (SCB) Medial College, Cuttack, Pradhan said.
The truck hit the building, as there is no boundary wall around the school the super cyclone of 1999 had damaged the boundary wall.
If authorities had reconstructed the wall the accident could have been averted, Balaram Parida, a former Mahakalapada block chairman, alleged.
The school's head master lodged a complaint against the truck driver, who managed to escape from the spot with the truck after the accident.
There was tension in the village after the accident and many agitated people blocked the nearby National Highway No 5(A), affecting vehicular traffic for three hours. Police reached the spot, pacified the mob and cleared the road.
{{/usCountry}}There was tension in the village after the accident and many agitated people blocked the nearby National Highway No 5(A), affecting vehicular traffic for three hours. Police reached the spot, pacified the mob and cleared the road.
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