Auto rams into parked water tanker, 8 school kids injured

Gurgaon: Nine people, including eight school children, were injured after the autorickshaw they were in crashed into a stationary water tanker in Nuh’s Ghasera village on Wednesday morning. One of them — a Class 6 student is critically injured, cops said.The incident occurred around 8.30am. All the children belong to the same clan in Ghasera and were travelling in an auto owned by one of their family members. They were headed to two govt schools in the village — Government Senior Secondary School and Government Girls’ Senior Secondary School. The auto was speeding when it crashed into the water tanker, which was parked on the road near the schools. The collision resulted in injuries to the auto driver and the school children inside — five girls and three boys — and significant damage to the auto.The injured children have been identified as Class 10 student Asma, Class 7 student Sabila, and Sabrun, Nazreen and Afsa, who are studying in Class 6. The injured boys include Farhan, who studies in Class 4, and Class 3 students Rizwan and Riyaz. The driver’s identity hasn’t been disclosed.Eyewitnesses at the scene acted promptly to rescue the children from the damaged auto and rushed them to Nalhar Medical College. Mushtaq, a relative of the students, alleged that the accident occurred while the auto was trying to avoid two bike riders with sticks who were coming from the opposite direction. “This caused the auto driver to lose balance, leading to the unfortunate accident,” he said.Soon after the accident, district education officer Paramjeet Chahal reached the hospital and visited the students. Afsa is critical and has been referred to Rohtak’s PGI for treatment.“One of the girls has been referred to PGI Rohtak for further treatment while the rest of the students are out of danger. The chief medical officer said the hospital wanted to monitor the students for 24 hours before discharging them,” Chahal said.Narendra, head of Government Senior Secondary School, Ghasera, said: “Savita (the head of the girls’ school) and I are with the injured students and are monitoring their condition. The incident took place about 500m ahead of the schools, which are adjacent to each other. We had rushed to the spot and carried the kids to the hospital. The auto driver has claimed that he lost balance because of two incoming bikers who were driving negligently.”Cops are probing the incident. No FIR has been lodged so far.