Seven students including six school children were injured when the van in which they were travelling met with an accident at the junction of Bannur Road and Ring Road in Mysuru on Tuesday. Police said the mishap took place when a truck hit the van ferrying children to Delhi Public School (DPS) situated on Bannur Road on the outskirts of the city.
The seventh person was a student of JSS Ayurvedic College. The mishap took place near Deve Gowda Circle. While five students, who had suffered bruises and minor injuries, were discharged, two others including a LKG student and the JSS Ayurvedic College student were being treated in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
“The two students undergoing treatment are stable. We have admitted them to keep them under observation as they had suffered head injuries”, said a doctor at Cauvery Hospital in Mysuru, where the injured students were rushed to.
Rash driving
Assistant Commissioner of Police (Traffic) N. Madaiah said the mishap took place due to rash and negligent driving by the van driver Prakash. “He was late for school and was speeding when the accident took place. Instead of sticking to the left side of the road, the van was on the right side of the road when the mishap took place”, he said.
Mr. Madaiah said private vehicles ferrying children to school should mandatorily display “School Van” on the vehicle. “The display was missing from the vehicle”, he said. The van driver Prakash had been arrested.
DPS authorities said the van involved in the mishap was not their school bus, but a private vehicle engaged by the parents of the students.
Meanwhile, Srinath, father of the LKG student undergoing treatment at the hospital, said the students of the school travelling in the van belonged to Srinivasa Agrahara situated near Srirangapatna, about 20 km from the school. “I and the parents of the other students had engaged a private van as the school authorities said they were unable to deploy a school bus to the village”, he said. The school authorities reportedly said they would deploy a school van next year when there was sufficient number of students.
While Srinath’s daughter, Shashira, a LKG student, had suffered head injuries, the JSS Ayurvedic College student, Sukrutha, a resident of Kudalukuppe near Srirangapatna, had fractured a rib along with head injuries.
