KV student dies, 12 hurt as tanker rams bus near Board Office

BHOPAL: A school girl died and 12 other students sustained injuries, including one critical, when a milk tanker collided with school bus at Board Office Square on Friday morning. There were 40 students of Kendriya Vidyalaya No.1 on the bus at time of incident and its gate was reportedly open.
The bus, which picked students from BHEL township and was on the way to school. As soon as driver took a turn from Board Office towards Arera Hills, a milk tanker coming from dugdh sangh at Habibganj and was behind the bus rammed it.
The school bus was coming from Pragati Petrol pump side and the milk tanker was coming from Chetak Bridge. The bus driver was in habit of playing music at a high volume while driving and would drive the vehicle at high speed.
Cops said the bus was hit by a speeding tanker at Board Office rotary. The bus driver took a complete turn of rotary, but accused tanker driver turned the vehicle on right side towards Arera Hills without taking full turn from rotary, leading to the accident.
Ten-year-old girl Vedika was seated near the bus gate. Due to collision, she fell off the bus and came under its wheels resulting in her death on the spot. Her family took body from hospital and went to home at Awadhpuri. They refused post-mortem, police said. Vedika was only child of her parents. Her father Sudheer Saryam is an upper division clerk in jail department.
The bus was badly damaged and its window panes were broken. Injured, including students, bus driver and conductor were rushed to JP Hospital. Another girl Anvesha Baghel, 9, a student of Class 5, who sustained head injury, was taken to a private hospital where her condition is critical. She had fallen from the bus, police said. Other girl Aprajita, a student of Class XII, was admitted to a hospital.
School bus driver was identified as Anil and errant tanker driver as Saeed Khan. It is being verified if the bus driver or accused have valid driving licence and registration papers.
Khan, who had brought tanker with 20,000 litre capacity from Ashta and sped away was nabbed by Shyamla Hills police.
So powerful was the collision that bus skidded off for some distance. The bus owner called up parents of injured students and informed about the incident. There were reports that milk tanker also hit the rotary apart from the school bus.
Soon, crowd gathered on the spot. Students are in a state of shock. Police said both vehicles were brought to MP Nagar police station and the accused, milk tanker driver, was arrested.