AT least 26 children were killed and around 70 others injured in New Delhi as their overcrowded school bus plunged off a bridge into the Yamuna River early yesterday morning, writes Rahul Bedi.Delhi's Chief Minister, Mr Sahib Singh Verma, said 24 children were missing hours after the accident and feared some may have drowned as the river current was strong at the Wazirabad bridge in the north of the city. Naval and police divers were looking for survivors while officials from the government school, Ludlow Castle, were trying to determine whether some may have swum shore and walked home on their own.
Police officials said the bus which was carrying 120 children, 65 more than the permitted number was driving too fast and skidded on Wazirabad bridge. It jumped several feet in the air, tore through the bridge's iron railing and plunged into over 10 feet of water around 7.30 am local time.
Meanwhile, chaos prevailed at the nearby Hindu Rao hospital where the injured were taken after medical volunteers found two children who had been declared dead to be alive. They were immediately transferred from the mortuary to a private hospital.
Other injured children could not be brought into the hospital emergency room as hundreds of anxious parents crowded around it and had to be taken elsewhere. Mr Verma has ordered an investigation into the accident and suspended the school principal and the traffic police officer at Wazirabad. "We will not allow whoever is responsible for this tragedy to go free," he said. Those responsible for allowing the bus to be so crowded will be punished, he added.