Two schoolchildren died and at least five others were missing when a school bus carrying 23 students plunged into a roadside canal between Ganti and Pedapudi villages of East Godavari district on Tuesday evening.
The bodies of the two children were retrieved from the canal and swimmers were searching for more bodies. Local villagers helped the remaining students to safety. The bodies of Addala Rohit, Class IV student hailing from Burugulanka village, and Bindu Madhavi were traced till 8 p.m.
The ill-fated bus belonged jointly to Sai Teja Public School and an Intermediate College of P. Gannavaram village. It picked up 33 students studying in different classes from upper kindergarten to Intermediate after school hours.
The driver, Bandaru Satish, dropped 10 children at different points en route to Pedapudi and Ganti villages and was crossing a bridge connecting the two villages. He lost control of his vehicle when he tried to avoid hitting an oncoming autorickshaw and the bus plunged into the Doweleswaram-Razole main canal.
Villagers who witnessed the accident rushed to the spot amid cries from the students and did their best to rescue the younger ones first, according to Sridhar, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Amalapuram. There was complete chaos in the area as hundreds of parents and villagers blocked the roads.
“Driver ignored pleas”
Borusu Anita, student of first year Intermediate who was among those rescued from the bus, said: “About 22 were travelling in the bus. We asked the driver to wait for the autorickshaw to the bridge. But he did not listen to us.”
Wailing over the body of his son, Rohit, Addala Srinu said he had complained about the poor condition of the bus several times, but the management had taken no action.
Avidi Subrahmanyam, a Class VIII student, who was admitted to a private hospital in Amalapuram, said he could only see water around him after the bus fell into the canal and someone shifted him to a safer place. P. Satyavani, Pavani and Bhargavi Ratnam, Intermediate students who were admitted in a hospital in Amalapuram, said they got injured while jumping out of the bus. They were nearly drowned as the gushing water carried them away to a distance of nearly half-a-kilometre.
Collector Neetu Kumari Prasad, SP Trivikram Varma and RDO P. Sampath Kumar rushed to the spot and supervised the arrangements to pull the bus out of water. The Collector confirmed that two children died in the accident.
