Kushinagar bus accident: Busy with music, driver caused 13 students' death

Kushinagar bus accident - An early-morning accident in Uttar Pradesh's Kushinagar on Thursday saw at least 13 school students being killed as the vehicle they were travelling in collided with a passenger train at an unmanned crossing. All the victims were students of the town's Divine Public School. Six other students were seriously injured; Kushinagar district Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Akhilesh Kumar told news agencies that one child and the driver of the van were in a critical condition. After ordering an inquiry into the matter, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath visited the accident site in Kushinagar.

According to railway ministry officials, the train dragged the school van for over 100 metres before coming to a halt.

The incident took place at the Dudhi Behpurva gate at 7.10 am. The injured were rushed to Pandrauna Hospital, 30 km from the accident site. Railways spokesperson Ved Prakash told news agencies that the children died on the spot as the Siwan-Gorakhpur passenger train crashed into the van at the crossing, 100 km from Gorakhpur. "It was an unmanned level crossing gate at Behpurva, with Gate Mitra (rail volunteer) deployed there. He tried to stop the van but the unfortunate incident happened at unmanned gate 45 near Dudhi station in Banaras division," the spokesperson said in New Delhi.