Vadodara, April 16
Forty-four persons, including 41 schoolchildren (32 girls and nine boys), were killed when a bus carrying them fell into the 60-foot deep Narmada canal at Bodeli village in the district this morning.
“Forty-four bodies, most of them of children, have so far been fished out from the canal,” DSP Vadodara (Rural) Amit Vishwkarama said.
Four children were rescued from the canal, DC Vijay Nehra said.
The Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation bus was on its way from Targol to Bodeli, when the mishap occurred at 6.30 am, after the driver apparently lost control over the vehicle.
Senior officials, including the collector and the DSP were at the spot to oversee the rescue operations. The bus was taken out of the canal.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has announced an ex-gratia of Rs one lakh to the next of the kin of the victims.
— PTI
