Masaipet mishap toll touches 18 as another girl dies

The condition of two children continues to remain critical. So far, the total number of children, out of 20 who were brought to Yashoda Hospital, who are stable and are fit to be discharged has increased to nine.

After fighting for her dear life for five days, 11-year-old Vaishnavi breathed her last in the early hours of Tuesday at Yashoda Hospitals, Secunderabad.

The death of the child left her father, Sanjeev Goud, grief stricken and hard to console. He could not control his emotions and broke down several times, as the body of the girl was being wheeled out of the hospital’s intensive care unit and readied for the onward journey to Islampur in Toopran, their native village.

Vaishnavi’s death took the overall toll of Masaipet tragedy to 18 out of which 16 were children and the remaining were the bus driver and the cleaner. Earlier, on Monday evening, the hospital doctors, after several failed attempts to revive 7-year-old Tarun, had declared him dead.

The health condition of two more children, Prashanth (6) and Varun Goud (7), continues to remain very critical even as Prashanth’s condition improved a bit on Tuesday after he opened his eyes for a brief while. On Tuesday, the doctors also declared that two more children – Abhinandu (9) and Shiva Kumar (5) – were fit for discharge.

So far, the total number of children, out of 20 who were brought to Yashoda Hospital, who are stable and are fit to be discharged has increased to nine. Another seven were shifted to general recovery wards and their condition was stated to be stable. They are expected to be declared fit in a day or two.

The six children whose condition is stable but still in the hospital include Nabira Fatima (9), Darshan Goud (6), Harish (7), Sirisha/Trisha (8), Nitusha (6) and Sravani (6).

Sharath (6) is still under close observation in the critical ward and has not been shifted to the general recovery ward.

The nine children who are fit for discharge are: Sairam (4), Ruchitha Goud (8), Satwika (6), Mahipal Reddy (4), Sadbhavan Das (3), Karunakar (9), Sandeep (5), Abhinandu (9) and Shiva Kumar (5).

Meanwhile, TDP leader and son of N. Chandrababu Naidu, Nara Lokesh will visit Masaipet on Wednesday to meet the families of the victims and handover cheques of Rs. 1 lakh each. On Monday, Mr. Lokesh visited Yashoda Hospital, Secunderabad, and handed over cheques worth Rs. 50,000 each to the families of the injured.