ACCIDENT

Uttar Pradesh: At least 13 children killed as train rams into school van

UP bus - train collision Image source: Twitter/ANI

In a major accident, at least 13 children were killed when the school van they were travelling in collided with a train at an unmanned rail crossing at Behpurva in Kushinagar district of Uttar Pradesh.

The children, students of Divine Public School, were on their way to school on Thursday morning when the Thawe-Kapatanganj passenger train crashed into their van. According to reports, most of those killed are aged below 10.

Several children were injured in the accident and rushed to a nearby hospital. Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Kushinagar district, Akhilesh Kumar told a news agency that one child and the driver of the van were in critical condition.

"It was an unmanned level crossing gate at Behpurva, with Gate Mitra deployed there. He tried to stop but unfortunate incident happened at unmanned gate 45 near Dudhi station in Banaras division," Ved Prakash, spokesperson for Railways said. An accident relief medical train from Gorakhpur has been dispatched to the site, he said.

There were nearly 25 people in the van. The train was on way to Gorakhpur from Siwan. 

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath declared an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh to the families of each of the victims and directed an inquiry into the accident. Yogi expressed “deepest condolences” on this “very unfortunate incident” and also directed the district administration to provide all help and medical aid.

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal also said that he had asked senior officials to conduct an inquiry into the incident. "Railways will provide an ex-gratia amount of Rs 2 lakh each to families of the deceased," he tweeted.

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