Thirteen school students have been killed and eight others injured when the van they were travelling in was hit by a train at an unmanned crossing in northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
The children, students of Divine Public School, were killed on the spot when Thawe-Kapatanganj passenger train (55075) crashed into the van at Behpurva on Thursday morning, said railway spokesperson Ved Prakash
There were at least 25 people, including children in the van, most of whom were below the age of 10 years, hindustantimes reported quoting the official.
Police officer OP Singh said the bus driver was also killed in the accident.
An accident relief medical train from Gorakhpur has been dispatched to the site, according to officials.
Expressing condolences, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced an ex-gratia of Rs two lakh each to the deceased’s family and ordered an inquiry by the Gorakhpur commissioner.
Railway minister Piyush Goyal also announced an ex-gratia of Rs two lakh each for the kin of the deceased and tweeted that senior officials would probe the accident.
This is the second tragic incident this month involving schoolchildren. Twenty-three children were among 30 killed when a private school bus ferrying them home veered off the road and plunged into a 200-foot-deep gorge at Malakwal in Nurpur in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh on April 9 last.
India’s railroad network is one of the world’s largest with 23 million people riding daily on about 11,000 passenger trains.
