School bus accident: CM visits injured; mass cremation held

Shimla:  A pall of gloom descended over Himachal Pradesh’s Khuwara village as 12 children, who were killed in a road accident, were cremated today.

Thirty people, including 27 children, were killed in the accident after a school bus plunged into a deep gorge near Gurchal village on the Nurpur-Chamba highway yesterday.

During the wreath laying ceremony today, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur expressed his heartfelt condolences with the bereaved families.

Meanwhile, Thakur met the injured children at Nurpur Hospital (Kangra) and Amandeep Hospital (Punjab) and wished them a speedy recovery.

The chief minister also lauded the bravery of Ranveer, a 10-year-old boy, who allegedly despite being himself injured reached the road site and informed people about the accident.

Thakur said the government would soon constitute a committee that would give its suggestions to avoid such incidents in future.

He said that the state government would provide all possible help to the injured. He directed doctors to provide best treatment to the injured children and if needed, they should be referred to another hospital on government’s expenses.

Thakur said the government has ordered a magisterial inquiry to probe the cause of the accident. He said that all necessary steps would be taken to ensure that such incidents do not happen in future.