Medak Bus Tragedy: Short-cut has cut short 16 lives

Medak:  Had the driver of the ill-fated school bus, which met with a tragic accident while crossing the un-manned railway crossing in Telangana's Medak district on Thursday, not taken a short-cut, lives of 14 children could have been saved, police said.

Driver speaking into Mobile: Also, as per eye witness the driver was talking into his mobile and did not see the train coming. He pressed the brakes very late and that did not stop the bus skidding on to the tracks only to be hit and draged by the speeding train.

The hired driver, who was behind the wheel instead of the regular driver, opted to cross the railway line through an un-manned railway level crossing though there are two manned railway crossings in Masayipet village, a senior officer said.

3 level-crossings in Masayipet: A senior official of South Central Railway (SCR) said the village has three level-crossings, out of which two are manned and one unmanned, within the distance of 1.5 km.

Sixteen persons, including 14 children were killed when Nanded-Secunderabad Passenger train collided with the bus on the railway track at around 9 AM on Thursday.

The driver and the cleaner of the bus too paid with their lives for the sheer negligence. 22 more children, who were injured in the mishap, are under medical treatment.

The deceased children were in the age group of 5-15 years and some of them were students of nursery class. Medak district In-charge Collector A Sharat said that despite having manned railway-level crossings in the village, the driver took a short-cut and tried to cross the railway line at an unmanned crossing.

-Sakshipost(with agency inputs)