Girl killed, 11 hurt as school van falls into gorge in Mandi dist

Dipender Manta

Tribune News Service

Mandi, June 21

A girl was killed and 11 others were injured, mostly students of LKG and KG, when the van they were travelling in skidded off the road and fell into a gorge at Dharampur in Mandi district on Thursday.

The students, belonging to Spectrum Premier Public School in Dadwar, were returning home when the driver lost control of the vehicle while negotiating a turn near Garli around 12:15 pm. The deceased has been identified as Gauri, 10, a student of Class IV.

The driver was reportedly a minor. “Usually, his father ferries children to and from the school but on Thursday he deputed his son on the job as he was away for some work,” a source said.

SP Gurdev Chand Sharma said nine children were admitted to Zonal Hospital, Mandi, while two were taken by their family to the Hamirpur Regional Hospital.

All children were earlier admitted to Sarkaghat hospital from where they were referred to the Zonal Hospital.

“Five students are stated to be critically injured, while others suffer from multiple fractures. One child (Sakshi) has been referred to the IGMC in Shimla. The preliminary investigation reveals that the accident took place due to negligence of the driver. We are trying to ascertain the actual cause of the accident,” Sharma said, adding that the vehicle was overloaded against its approved seating capacity.

Deputy Commissioner Rugved Thakur also visited the injured victims and disbursed an immediate relief of Rs5,000 each.

He marked a magisterial inquiry into the case to find out the lapses on the part of the school administration and asked the Dharampur Sub-Divisional Magistrate to submit a report within a week.

Those injured have been identified as Ashish Kumar (9), Aarav (6), Sara Thakur (8) of Chasval village; Anshul (14), Manasi (9) of Bhaddu village; Kavyansh (6), Bhupender (5), Sakshi (6), Lakshay (6), Lucky (6) of Garli village; and Sumit of Gharvasda under Dharampur sub-division.

‘Negligent’ driving

• The students, belonging to Spectrum Premier Public School in Dadwar, were returning home when the driver lost control of the vehicle while negotiating a turn near Garli around 12:15 pm. The deceased has been identified as Gauri, 10, a student of Class IV.
• The driver was reportedly a minor. “Usually, his father ferries children to and from the school but on Thursday he deputed his son on the job as he was away for some work,” a source said.