Pune horror: Rods in truck pierce rear windscreen of school bus; 8 students & teacher injured

PUNE: Eight pre-school students and their teacher escaped with minor injuries after iron rods being carried in a pick-up truck pierced the rear windscreen of the children's bus whose driver applied brakes to avoid hitting a motorcyclist around 2pm on Wednesday.

The accident occurred at Sortapwadi on the Pune-Solapur highway — about 26 km from the city. The 70-year-old motorcyclist sustained severe injuries and is under treatment at a private hospital in Loni Kalbhor. Driver of the pick-up truck fled from the spot after the accident, police told TOI.
Inspector Shankar Patil of the Uruli Kanchan police told TOI: "According to prima facie investigations, the driver of the English medium institution's bus had to apply brakes urgently after the motorcyclist crossed the median of the highway and appeared in front of the vehicle all of a sudden. The pick-up truck with iron rods was right behind the bus and rammed it. The rods pierced the rear windscreen of the bus."

Patil said the children sustained injuries not because of the iron rods but either due to the broken splinters of glass or the sudden jerk. "They were taken to a nearby hospital and discharged after preliminary treatment," he added.

Bhakti Shewale, the managing director of the Olympus School for Excellence at Bhandgaon in Daund taluka, told TOI that there were 33 pre-school students in the bus with two teachers and two attendants. The group was headed to a nearby nursery for a field trip when the accident took place.
"A pick-up truck illegally carrying iron rods which were projecting dangerously beyond the vehicle body crashed into the rear of the school bus. The bus driver was forced to apply emergency brakes as a two-wheeler rider suddenly came before it," she said.

Shewale further said, "The impact broke the rear glass windscreen and shattered fragments entered the bus, causing minor injuries to some children. We were informed about the incident immediately. Our staff rushed to the spot, ensured the students were rescued and given first aid. The children were then handed over to their parents."

Patil said the incident caused traffic congestion on the Pune-Solapur highway. "We shifted the vehicles using cranes and traffic normalised slowly," he added.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday night, the Uruli Kanchan police registered a case under sections 281 (rash driving) and 125 (act endangering life and personal safety of others) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and relevant sections of the Motor Vehicles Act against the motorcyclist and the truck driver. A complaint was lodged against them by the driver of the school bus.