12-yr-old among 2 dead as overloaded van overturns in Rajasthan’s Churu, 27 children hurt

Jaipur: Two persons, including a 12-year-old boy, were killed and 27 children were injured when a an overloaded pickup van they were travelling in overturned in Rajasthan’s Churu district on Wednesday, police said.

The children were travelling in the van as part of a government school teacher’s retirement procession when the accident took place on the Meghsar-Jhansar Ghazia road, they added.

“A jeep (van) part of a government school’s teacher retirement procession overturned due to which two people were killed and 27 other children were injured,” Taranagar DSP Meenakshi said.

Meenakshi said the van was overloaded with school children and villagers who were going to Dheerwas Bada village where the school teacher Bhaguram Meghwal had organised his retirement party.

The deceased were identified as Krishna Meena (50) and Aditya (12), the police said.

The 27 injured children were taken to various medical facilities in the district. Twenty were admitted to Taranagar sub-district hospital, five were referred to a private hospital, and one seriously injured child was shifted to Jaipur for further treatment, they said.

The bodies of the deceased have been placed in the hospital mortuary for postmortem, they added.