Families recount bus accident near Nainital that claimed three

The elders and parents were travelling in another bus. Their bus was driving ahead as both the vehicles started out. Abhishek said the driver of their bus was driving rashly. He said they repeatedly asked the driver to slow down, but he would not listen.

Both brothers and their parents said stones line the high altitude roads at irregular intervals. “There were no stones to break the fall of the bus. Trees cushioned the fall only slightly,” V Pratap Singh, the boys’s father, said.

A few children, including Vivek, and the bus driver were thrown out of the bus half way down its descent. The rest lay trapped inside or in pockets around the bus when it came to a halt. Vivek said he was sitting near the door when he was thrown out. He lost consciousness. When he came about within a few minutes, he saw the driver lying in his own blood, his legs broken. He was dead.

Pooja (22) was lying crushed in between a tree and the bus after being flung out through the window. She recently had a spinal surgery and she was undergoing treatment for the same. She fell on her back, which proved fatal.

About 15 local residents came to the rescue of the injured. By then the parents had called the police and ambulance from Kaladhungi.

The locals carried all 17 victims up the incline.

All the injured were rushed to Haldwani and they were driven to Delhi early on Tuesday morning. Some of the victims are undergoing surgeries in Max hospital here.