Four suspended in connection with mishap killing school children

Dehradun: Four persons including a transport officer, an education officer and two police department personnel were suspended and Tehri’s basic education officer was summoned on the direction of Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat in connection with Tuesday’s road accident which killed nine school children in Uttarakhand.

The action was taken after preliminary investigations revealed overloading led to the accident at Kangsali near Lambgaon in Tehri district, an official release here said.

After it surfaced that the school where the accident victims studied was being run without official recognition, Jakhnidhar’s sub section education officer Dhanvir Singh was also suspended. Tehri’s basic education officer has also been summoned by the state government.

The accident occurred early on Tuesday when the van taking the students fell into a 200 metre deep gorge killing nine children aged between 4-13 and leaving 11 others injured. The driver jumped off the vehicle to save himself and fled the spot.

Overloading appeared to have been one of the factors that led to the accident as the van could accommodate only 10 people, but was carrying 21, including the driver, an official had said on Tuesday.