Dhaka, 9 April, Abnews: Twenty-six schoolchildren were killed when the school bus they were travelling in skidded and fell into a 100-feet-deep gorge in Himachal Pradesh’s Kangra district, reports the ANI.
The bus belonging to a private school overturned as it slipped into the gorge and came to rest in the middle of the hillside, the rescuers said.
A team of the National Disaster Response Force or NDRF have reached the accident site at Kangra’s Nurpur town, 220 kilometres from state capital Shimla. Rescue operation is on. Some children are still trapped inside the mangled bus.
The students are from Wazir Ram Singh Pathania Memorial Public School. Many of them who were in the bus today were in Class 5 and below.
‘I have spoken with the chief secretary... the NDRF was immediately deployed,’ Himachal chief minister Jai Ram Thakur said. ‘Rescue operation is underway with the help of locals. I have ordered for a magisterial probe,’ he said.
The chief minister has announced Rs. 5 lakh compensation for the families of the children involved in the accident.
ABN/Adrian/Jasim/AD