One killed, 17 students hurt in school van-tanker collision

New Delhi: A seven-year-old girl died while 17 other school students sustained injuries morning after a milk tanker rammed into a private school van on Thursday morning near northwest Delhi’s Kanhaiya Nagar Metro station.

According to DCP Northwest Aslam Khan, the school van was carrying 18 children who were to be dropped at two schools in Keshav Puram — Kendriya Vidyalaya and Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya No. 1. A Class 3 girl, identified as Garima, alias Sakshi, a student of Kendriya Vidyalaya, succumbed to injuries.

All the children are aged between seven and 15. Most of them are residents of JJ Colony, Wazirpur. The injured students are Suhani (12), Mohammed Ayan (14), Deepanshi (14), Dhaniksha (14), Tarun (12), Ritesh (14), Taniya (7), Tina (14), John (8), Vinay (13), Danish (12), Rishika (14), Tisha (14), Vansh (7), Vaishnavi (7) and Lovely (10).

Preliminary probe reveals that the school van driver is a habitual offender and had been slapped challan over a dozen times. The police also said that the accident took place due to the negligence of both the drivers.

The driver of the private school van had his earphones on and was driving on the wrong side of the road. The milk tanker driver was allegedly under the influence of alcohol, the police said.

The school van was hit by the other vehicle while taking a turn. As a result of the collision, the van toppled twice before coming to a halt.

Locals rushed the children to a nearby hospital without waiting for the police. Most of the injured children were admitted to the Deep Chand Bandhu Hospital.

Most of the injured children were admitted to the Deep Chand Bandhu Hospital. Later, they were referred to different hospitals, including AIIMS, Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital (LNJP), Sushruta Trauma Centre.

“Four of the children are in the ICU of the Sushruta Trauma Centre. One of them suffered injuries to the stomach and is being operated on, while three others have suffered head injuries and shoulder fractures. Six students were admitted to the LNJP Hospital. They have sustained multiple fractures and are undergoing medical investigations,” said Dr J.C. Passey, medical director at the LNJP.

Garima’s father Sandeep said they received a call about the accident around 7.30 am.

“We frantically scoured for our daughter in all the hospitals in the area. We later learnt that she was dead. We are in a state of shock,” he said.

Both drivers are habitual offenders

Continuing the probe into the alleged accident that claimed the life of a seven-year-old girl, the police said that the driver of the school van, which was hit by a milk tanker, had been challaned by the traffic police eight times under various offences. The milk van driver has over 17 cases of violation against him.  

According to police, the man was driving the vehicle under the influence of alcohol with headphones plugged in his ears. It also added that the school van was filled with children beyond capacity. A Delhi government officer said that the van, a 2002 model private vehicle, was running illegally. Its driver, Vijay Kumar, did not fulfil the various norms required for driving school vans.  

Kumar was also carrying a licence for driving private vehicles, the official said. According to rules, vans used for carrying school children must be equipped with devices like global positioning system (GPS) and speed governors for the safety of children. The drivers of such vehicles also require having their licence and badge verified by the police.

“In this case, all these measures were absent since the van was a private vehicle and it was being used to carry school children,” the officer said, adding, “Such school vans put wooden benches inside vehicles and also make the children sit on CNG kits. These are recipes for disaster.”

r According to data, 3,807 school cabs were prosecuted last year and this year (till April 25), 875 school cabs have been prosecuted
r 586 school cabs were challaned for wrong parking last year and 103 were prosecuted for the offence till April 15. 151 vehicles were fines for dangerous driving in 2017, while 48 were challaned till April 15. 1,192 drivers were challaned for driving without seat belts last year and 253 were challaned till April 15.