Thirteen children were killed yesterday when a train hit their school van at an unmanned crossing in Uttar Pradesh, the second major accident involving school children in a little over two weeks.
Police were investigating the cause of the accident but authorities said the van driver was responsible for safety at the unmanned crossings.
“Railways is not responsible in case of unmanned level crossings,” said Ashwani Lohani, chairman of the Indian Railway Board.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath told reporters at the site in Kushinagar that the accident was possibly a result of negligence on the part of the van driver, who he said was wearing headphones at the time.
Railway officials said a rail volunteer – who alerts commuters about approaching trains at crossings – had signalled to the van to the stop but the driver ignored the signal.
“Most of the victims, who were under the age of ten years, died on the spot,” police spokesman Gopal Pandey said.
Eight children and the driver were injured and taken to hospital, police said.
There were 22 children in the vehicle.
Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said an inquiry had been ordered and his ministry would pay Rs200,000 ($3,000) to the families of those killed.
The horrific incident took place around 7.10am at the Dudhi Behpurva rail gate when the children were headed to the Divine Public School and were hit by the Gorakhpur-Siwan Passenger train.
Lohani said that in the long-term, the solution was the replacement of all unmanned crossing in the huge railway network with bridges or tunnels for roads.
“We are working on it, but it will take time,” he said.
On April 9, at least 24 children and three adults were killed when a school bus plunged off a mountain road in Himachal Pradesh.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) demanded that the railways deploy staff at all unmanned level crossings across the country to make them safer for people.
Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh told reporters that the tragic incident in Kushinagar could have been avoided if there was adequate staff to man the railway crossing.
“There can’t be a more precious thing than human life and the government should make arrangements to ensure that such mishaps are not repeated,” the AAP leader said.
Also yesterday at least nine people were killed in three separate road accidents in Jharkhand, police said.
According to the police, in Chatra district five people were killed and more than 16 injured when a bus carrying around 27 members of a marriage party slammed into a tree as the driver lost control over the vehicle.
In another incident in the same district, a youth was killed after his bike hit a tractor.
In the third incident, three people of another marriage party were killed in Palamu district of the state when their vehicle met with an accident.




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