40 schoolchildren among 50 injured as Haryana Roadways bus overturns in Pinjore

Chandigarh, July 8

An overloaded Haryana Roadways bus overturned near Pinjore on Monday, leaving 50 people injured, most of them schoolchildren, officials said.

According to preliminary information, over 40 children were among the injured, they said.

“The bus overturned near a turn. The reasons behind the accident are under investigation. Our main focus at the moment is on rescue. All children are stable, no one has a threatening or critical injury,” Panchkula Deputy Commissioner Yash Garg told reporters at the civil hospital in Panchkula.

“Thirty children have been brought to the civil hospital in Panchkula. Others are under observation in Pinjore,” he said.

Four adults were also brought to the civil hospital in Panchkula and one of them is a 60-year-old woman, who suffered crush injury on her arm. She has been referred to the PGI, Chandigarh, he said.

Some accounts said the woman was on the road when the accident occurred.

Garg said another injured had been shifted to the ICU.

Haryana Assembly Speaker Gian Chand Gupta, who is BJP MLA from Panchkula, told reporters that the accident occurred near a village in Panchkula.

Gupta said the driver and conductor of the bus had been suspended.

“The bus was overloaded and we have been told that the vehicle’s speed was slightly in excess. As it approached a turn, it overturned,” Gupta said.

“Our first priority was to rescue the injured and provide them the best treatment,” he added. With PTI