3 students injured as truck rams into bus; driver held

Three students, aged between 8 and 10, suffered minor injuries after a speeding truck rammed into their school bus on Ghodbunder Road on Thursday morning.

Prakash Pal, the truck driver, was arrested by Chitalsar police. The accident led to a traffic jam on Ghodbunder Road for around 45 minutes during peak hours before normalcy was restored.

The school bus, which belongs to a private school, had 31 students in it when the incident took place. The injured children were identified as Arjun, Arijit and Shreya. Arjun and Arijit suffered minor head injuries. The children were treated at a hospital and later discharged.

The incident occurred around 8.15am at Brahmand Signal.

“As the bus was attempting a right turn at the signal, the speeding truck rammed into the bus and two cars adjacent to it. The school was informed and all the students were taken to the school immediately. By afternoon, the vehicles were towed away and vehicular traffic on Ghodbunder Road was restored,” said Dutta Dhole, senior police inspector, traffic.

Shortly after the accident, officials from the Regional Disaster Management Cell (RDMC), traffic police, and fire brigade officials rushed to the site. This led to a traffic jam on Ghodbunder Road.

“As four vehicles were damaged in this incident we had to first tow them away before resuming traffic on the road. As the incident took place during the morning peak hours there was more vehicular movement. However, by mid-morning we managed to clear the vehicles and the traffic normalised,” said an officer from the traffic department.

“I was standing at the door of the school bus; we were taking a right turn at the Bramhand Signal when a sudden jerk and push took our vehicle to the extreme left of the road. Because of its impact, a car that was ahead and another adjacent to our vehicle also got damaged,” said Pradeep Jaiswal, cleaner of the school bus.