11 children injured as school bus carrying 30 students overturns in Meerut, driver absconding

It was a close shave for 30 school children when the minibus they were travelling in overturned after its axle broke near the Salatur Rasoolpanah canal bridge in Kithore.

Hearing the screams of the children, locals rushed to the spot and rescued all the students from the vehicle. Eleven of them sustained injuries in the accident.

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The minibus belonged to Pandit Rajkumar Sharma Public School, located in Asifabad, Parikshitgarh. The driver, Shadab, a resident of Sarangpur Khadar, was ferrying the children to the school when the front axle suddenly snapped around 7:30 am causing the right wheel to detach. The bus veered off the road and overturned on the canal embankment.

Among those injured was the driver’s niece, Muskara (16), who suffered a leg injury. Ten other children aged between 4 and 16 — including Alina, Arkaan, Mahira, Abdul Ahad, Muhammad Shad, Waseem, Ajman, Naved, Alka, and Sidra — also received injuries. Some children were taken to a local doctor by their families, while Muskara was admitted to a hospital in Meerut. All injured children were later discharged after primary treatment.

Inspector Pratap Singh of Kithore Police Station reached the site of the accident with his team. The investigation revealed shocking negligence: the bus’s fitness certificate had expired in 2017 and the insurance and pollution certificates were also invalid. The police seized the minibus, while the driver fled the scene.

A case of attempted culpable homicide has been registered against driver Shadab, bus owner Israr (son of Ishtiyaq), school manager Rajpal Sharma, and principal Saurabh Sharma (son of Rajpal). Police officials stated that arrests will be made soon.

Authorities also discovered that Shadab, who works as a teacher at the school, had been routinely transporting children in the same unfit vehicle. For eight years, neither the police nor the RTO conducted any inspection of the bus. Local residents expressed outrage, stating that the dilapidated bus had long exceeded its permitted operational life, yet was still used daily to ferry children.