Three students die, 20 hurt as overloaded bus falls into drain

Ravi Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Fatehgarh Churian (Gurdaspur), January 12

Three students were killed and more than 20 injured when their overloaded school bus fell into a drain after colliding with a jeep at Pindi village of Gurdaspur today.

The deceased have been identified as Harkirat Singh, 10, his cousin Harpreet Singh, 11, and the bus driver’s grandson, Jaspreet Singh, 15. All three were residents of Wadala Veram village in Amritsar. School owner Capt Harinder Singh (retd) has been taken into custody and bus driver Dalbir Singh booked for negligence. The accident took place when the bus of the Captain School of Excellence was on its way to Fatehgarh Churian town in Gurdaspur from Majitha in Amritsar district.

Bearing the registration number of Goa, the bus was ferrying over 60 students against its capacity of 32. Dalbir Singh, 65, a resident of Wadala Veram village, did not have a valid driver’s licence.

SSP Daljinder Singh Dhillon led a team of senior officers to the spot.

An eyewitness said the bus, ferrying students of three villages — Wadala Veram, Bhoja and Wadala — collided with a jeep at Pindi village around 8 am and after its steering got locked, it fell into the drain, breaking the grills of the bridge.

Dhillon said initial investigation showed that the bus was worn out and was running in a “very poor condition”. “It was ferrying more than 60 students against its capacity of 32. Even the driver did not possess an authorised driving licence. We have registered a case under Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC against school owner Capt Harinder Singh and driver Dalbir Singh, who has been admitted to a hospital,” he said.