Teacher, driver killed, several children injured in horrific bus accident in Chhattisgarh's Kondagaon district

RAIPUR: Out on an excursion, a govt school teacher and bus driver were killed and several children were injured when the private bus they were travelling in, collided with a truck in Kondagaon district of Bastar region in Chhattisgarh in wee hours on Monday. Condition of four children was stated to be critical and were being shifted to Raipur while 22 kids were given primary treatment at Kondagaon district hospital.

Kondagaon police have lodged a case of ‘death by negligence’.

Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai expressed grief and directed officials to provide better treatment to the injured.

"The news of the death of a teacher and the driver in a road accident involving a bus carrying school children is extremely sad. There are also reports of injuries to some school children travelling in the bus, who are under treatment. The district administration has been instructed to make better medical arrangements for them," Sai stated.

Over 53 people including teachers and students of Class 6,7,8 were boarded on the bus hired by the Kevat tola govt school of Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki district, for a day-long tour to Dantewada, Barsoor, Chitrakote.

It’s shocking that the bus full of school children, after the whole day’s excursion, was travelling back late at night from Jagdalpur to Mohla, covering 8-10 hours of on-road distance.

TOI tried seeking answers from Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki collector Tulika Prajapati but she wasn’t available for comments.

Speaking to TOI, Kondagaon SP Y Akshay said, “50 school children and teachers were on a hired bus going from Chitrakote to Mohla when around 2 am the bus collided with a truck coming from the opposite direction. I visited the hospital and met the injured. Around 24 of them were affected with injuries and a girl suffered with jaw dislocation and was referred to Raipur. While another child had a fracture and the kids sustained minor injuries.”

SP Akshay said that it appears that the bus driver must be drowsy, which may have caused the accident. The kids were being handed over to their parents, SP added.

According to sources, the govt school students are often taken for an excursion to tourist spots in Bastar region, and often it’s a one-day tour, but the children are made to travel for long hours in buses in overnight journeys.

The students of Kevat tola might have left early on Sunday morning to travel several hours to Bastar and were being rushed at night on the return journey, when the tired driver might have dozed off while driving late.

The accident occurred near Chikalputi village on National Highway 30 around 2 am and there was a mayhem like situation with screams of children all around and the driver Dilip Thakur and teacher Ram Kumar Bhuarya killed.

The locals rushed to help and within an hour all the children were rescued and shifted to hospital.

Those being shifted to their native place, were terrified to board the other bus again, and arrangements were made to send them via train.