6 schoolchildren dead in Haryana bus crash
The victims — five boys and a girl — were identified as Satyam, Yuvraj, brothers Yashu and Anshu, all of whom live in Jharli village; and Vansh and Rinki.
Six schoolchildren were killed and 19 injured on Thursday morning in Mahendergarh district in Haryana after a speeding private school bus driven by an allegedly drunk man barrelled off the road, rammed into a tree and overturned, said police officers — an incident that left a string of unanswered questions in its wake, including why the institution called students in on Eid, a gazetted holiday.
The driver, Dharmender (who goes by one name), was arrested from the spot, and the principal of GL Public School in Kanina village, Deepti Rao, and school secretary Hoshiyar Singh were held later in the day, said senior police officers.
The bus was carrying 37 students aged between 10 and 18,and did not have a helper on board.
Officials said 12 children were being treated in a hospital in Rewari, three at another private hospital in Rewari and four in Gurugram. The other 12 were discharged.
The victims — five boys and a girl — were identified as Satyam (16), Yuvraj (14), brothers Yashu (15) and Anshu (13), all of whom live in Jharli village; and Vansh (14) and Rinki (15), both from Dhanonda village.
President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini were among a string of senior political leaders who condoled the accident.
A preliminary investigation found that the 52-seater bus did not have either a fitness certificate or a mandatory high-security registration plate, said officers involved in the probe, also adding that the vehicle had been fined for these lapses in March 2023. Dharmender was the usual driver for the bus.
The incident occurred in Unhani village, around 8.45am on Thursday, roughly an hour and 15 minutes after the bus set off from Sehlang village around 15km away.
The bus was headed to Kanina and had picked up 37 students along the way by the time it reached Unhani around 2.5km away from the school. According to survivors and police officers, as it approached a gentle right turn near a Hafed godown, metres before a culvert, the bus, which according to students was travelling at 120km/hour, skidded off the narrow road, rammed into a tree on the opposite side and flipped over.
Mahendergarh superintendent of police (SP) Arsh Verma said the driver was speeding and a medico-legal test would confirm if he was drunk or not.
However, Verma confirmed that the survivors said the man was drunk.
“The injured children said that the driver was under the influence of alcohol when the mishap took place,” he said, adding that the school’s principal was arrested.
“Documents showed that the bus’s fitness certificate expired six years ago,” said Verma.
Haryana transport minister Aseem Goel said “the negligence of the school is clear in this case”.
“All vehicles in the state will be made to undergo fitness tests,” he said. The Haryana government also suspended the Narnaul regional transport authority’s assistant secretary Pardeep Kumar.
Police officers who asked not to be named quoted students as saying that the driver jumped out of the window the moment he realised he had lost control of the vehicle.
The injured students told HT that they called the school principal about 50 minutes before the accident and complained that the driver was drunk. Rao, however, rejected their concerns and said, “Everything will be okay, just come to school.”
Anju, a class 12 student, said that their parents informed the principal who insisted that the students reach the school with the driver and promised to take action against him.
It was also unclear why the school was open on Eid-ul-Fitr, a central holiday across the country.
“A show cause notice has been served to all the schools that were open on Thursday,” said Haryana education minister Seema Trikha.
No immediate response was available from the school.
Mahendergarh deputy commissioner (DC) Monika Gupta said that they have written to the Haryana board of school education and the state government to terminate the school’s affiliation for conducting classes on a gazetted holiday.
All three suspects were booked under the Indian Penal Code’s sections 109 (abetment),120B (criminal conspiracy), 304 (culpable homicide),336 (endangering life) and 337 (causing hurt to another person by acting rashly or negligently).
Trikha, who visited recovering children in Matrika hospital in Rewari, said most of the injured children are out of danger, except a girl who is being treated in the ICU for a brain haemorrhage.
Condolences poured in from across political circles after the incident.
President Murmu, in a post on X, said, “The news of the death of innocent children in a school bus accident in Mahendergarh district of Haryana is heart-rending. May God give strength to the bereaved parents and relatives to bear this cruel blow. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured children.”
Prime Minister Modi, also in a post on X, said: “My condolences are with all the families who have lost their children in this accident. Along with this, I wish for the speedy recovery of all the injured children. Under the supervision of the state government, the local administration is engaged in providing all possible help to the victims and their families.”
Haryana chief minister Saini assured that “strict action will be taken against those found guilty in the probe. We will ensure ex-gratia to the affected families and full treatment of the injured students.”
