3 students die as Bolero hits school bus

Aparna Banerji

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Tribune News Service

Dasuya/Talwara/Hoshiarpur, April 7

Three students were killed and 11 injured when a bus of Gems Cambridge International School, Dasuya, was hit by a speeding Mahindra Bolero pick-up at Singhpur village today. The bus driver, Ranjit Singh, was also killed.

The deceased children -- all from Talwara -- were identified as Tanish (12) and twins Surabhi (7) and Anirudh (7). There were about 15 students on board, a majority of them from Talwara. The pick-up driver, Dharam Singh, and his helper, Mandeep Singh, were injured.

A witness said, “The pick-up and the truck collided while trying to save a biker who was driving on the wrong side. While the bus was going towards Dasuya, the pick-up was heading towards Jalandhar.”

The injured were taken to the Dasuya Civil Hospital, from there they were referred to a private hospital in Hoshiarpur. Three of the injured students from Talwara are still under treatment at the private hospital, while one child was referred to the DMC, Ludhiana, and another to Amritsar. The other injured students were discharged.

Surabhi and Anirudh were students of Class I. They were sitting on a seat behind the driver as the usual occupant – schoolteacher Monica - was on leave.

The twins’ father, Rohit Sharma, is a resident auditor with the PSPCL, while mother Nidhi teaches science at Government Senior Secondary School, Talwara. Tanish’s father Anil Sharma is in the construction business, while mother Neha is a teacher.

The injured students were identified as Shivani Thakur, Vaishnavi Thakur, Anirudh, Palak Sharma, Vardan Sharma, Rakesh Sharma, Navya, Ardhya, Sarthan, Nishan Sharma and Raghav Sharma. Bus conductor Rakesh Kumar is under treatment at the private hospital in Hoshiarpur.

Dasuya MLA Arun Dogra and Hoshiarpur legislator Sunder Sham Arora met the victims’ kin. The school administration visited the deceased students’ families this evening.

Mother fears for kids’ life, dies of shock

Hajipur (Hoshiarpur): Pooja, a resident of Khatigarh village, near here, died of a heart attack after she came to know about the accident. Her husband, Vipan, alias Deepa, who runs a provision store in Hajipur, said his children were studying at Cambridge School, Dasuya. He said his children left for school in the morning, while his wife was at home. Someone informed her about the accident. Fearing for her kids’ life, she suffered a nervous breakdown and collapsed. She was taken to a hospital, where doctors declared her dead. Ironically, her children were not aboard the ill-fated bus. OC