Haryana school bus accident: Six children killed, 13 injured in Mahendragarh

At least six children were killed and 13 others injured after a school bus carrying 30 children overturned in Haryana’s Mahendergarh on Thursday morning, police said.
Police officials said the school bus belonging to GL Public School in Kanina was involved in an accident near Unhani village in the Mahendergarh district after the driver tried to overtake another vehicle. The school was functioning despite a holiday on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr.
“The injured students were rushed to various hospitals in Mahendergarh and Narnaul. The official documents show that the bus’s fitness certificate had expired six years ago in 2018,” said a senior police official.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah took to X (formerly Twitter) and extended condolences over the deaths in the school bus accident while assuring that the local administration is providing help to the injured children. “The accident of a school bus in Mahendragarh, Haryana is very sad. My condolences are with the bereaved families of the deceased children. May God give them strength to bear this loss. The local administration is providing help to the injured children. I wish them a speedy recovery,” Amit Shah’s Hindi post roughly translated to English read.
Eyewitnesses alleged that the bus driver was drunk.
Mahendergarh Superintendent of Police (SP) Arsh Verma said that doctors are conducting a medical examination of the bus driver to ascertain whether he was drunk or not.
“We are also examining documents of the bus. The school authorities are yet to be contacted to determine their responsibility. Two children are still critical and undergoing treatment. Six children had died,” the SP said in an earlier statement.
Haryana education minister Seema Trikha said she had spoken to the deputy commissioner and Mahendergarh superintendent of police to visit the hospital where the students are undergoing treatment and begin investigating the matter.
Mahendergarh district collector Monika Gupta said that strict action will be initiated against school authorities and bus driver. She termed the accident unfortunate and blamed school driver for the mishap.
(With inputs from reporter)