C'garh: Providential Escape for 18 Children as School Bus Falls into River

Raipur: Eighteen children had a providential escape when a school bus carrying them plunged into a river in Sakti district in Chhattisgarh on Wednesday, police said.

The incident happened when the driver lost control of the bus while crossing a bridge built over river Sone at Pisod under Hasaud police station, police said.

Some locals who were taking baths and washing clothes at the river bank jumped into the river and rescued all the 18 school children.

Two of them who gulped water have been admitted to the local hospital for treatment.

“Around half-a-dozen locals who were taking baths and washing clothes at the time had saved the school children from drowning by undertaking a rescue operation swiftly”, police said.

According to Sakti district superintendent of police Ankita Sharma, police reached within four minutes of the incident and rescued the children with the help of the locals.

The children were carrying backpacks while travelling in the school bus which threatened to endanger their lives in the incident, police said.