Kushinagar school bus accident: UP CM Yogi Adityanath orders inquiry, announces compensation

Earlier on Thursday, a school van rammed into a train killing 13 people and seriously injuring seven others in Uttar Pradesh's Kushinagar.

LUCKNOW: Soon after the Kushinagar school bus accident which claimed lives of at least 13 children, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday condoled the death of the children and announced an ex-gratia of Rs two lakh each to the deceased's' family.

He has also ordered an immediate inquiry into the matter by the Gorakhpur commissioner. He has directed the district administration to provide all possible help and medical aid to the victims.

An accident relief medical train from Gorakhpur has been dispatched to the site.

Earlier today, a school van rammed into a train killing 13 people and seriously injuring seven others in Uttar Pradesh's Kushinagar. The mishap took place at around 7 am when Thawe-Kapatanganj passenger train (55075) was passing the railway crossing. 

The van, belonging to Divine public school in Kushinagar, was carrying at least 25 people which included mostly children. "Total 18 school students were travelling in the vehicle out of which 11 have died. Many of the rest seven are critically injured. The death toll may go up," ADG (Law and Order) Anand Kumar said.

All the kids who were killed aged under 10 years. Blaming the administration, eyewitnesses informed that the incident took place on an unmanned railway crossing.

Giving details of the incident, police said that the injured have been taken to the hospital. "There were nearly 25 school kids in the van. The children were on their way to their school when the incident took place. The incident took place near a rail crossing. The injured have been taken to the hospital. Many residents of the area had gathered when the incident took place," Additional SP Hari Govind said. 

He also added that the railway crossing gates are not closed when the train passes. Some are saying that the railway official who used to give the green signal to the trains did not turn up for work on Thursday. The Railways is, however, maintaining that its employee tried to stop the train but the incident could not be averted.

"It was unmanned level crossing gate at Behpurva, with Gate Mitra deployed there. He tried to stop but the unfortunate incident happened at unmanned gate 45 near Dudhi station in Banaras division," spokesperson for Railways Ved Prakash said.