School bus and container lorry collide on NH 48 near Ambur; four students injured
Four students and a bus driver were injured when a container lorry struck a school bus on NH 48 near Ambur in Tirupattur district; the lorry driver was arrested.
Four students of a private higher secondary school and a driver were injured when a container lorry struck their school bus on the Chennai-Bengaluru National Highway (NH 48) at Vadaputhupatti village, about two kilometres from Ambur town in Tirupattur district, on Saturday morning.
The injured students were identified as I. Rohit (6) and M. Aswanth (7), both Class 2 pupils, and I. Micher (12) and I. Jannet Juliya (12), both in Class 6. All four are residents of Vadaputhupatti and study at St. Joseph's Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Pernambut town, Vellore district.
According to initial inquiries, the bus driver, P. Sugumar (47), a native of Ambur, had picked up six students from the village and was heading towards Ambur along the village road. As he turned onto the national highway carriageway, he met an incoming container lorry travelling from Chennai to Hosur. The lorry hit the bus at around 8 a.m.
Sugumar sustained injuries to his head and left leg. The lorry driver, K. Shyam Sundar Misra (30), a native of Uttar Pradesh, also suffered minor injuries.
Other motorists and passersby alerted the Ambur Taluk police and 108 ambulance services. The injured students and the driver were admitted to the Government Taluk Hospital in Ambur, where their condition was stated to be stable. A case was registered, and the lorry driver was later arrested.
Agitated residents of the village, including parents and relatives of the injured students, blocked the national highway demanding better safety measures on the stretch. They said they had long been seeking a subway or a bridge at the highway intersection to prevent such accidents. K. Valli, a resident, said petitions had been submitted to the district administration on several occasions, but no action had been taken on safety measures, including the construction of a new bridge.
Tirupattur Superintendent of Police Akshay Anil Wakhare, along with revenue and National Highways Authority of India officials, pacified the protesters, who dispersed peacefully after being assured that steps would be taken to ensure the safety of motorists on the route. Traffic on the stretch was affected for nearly two hours.
Later, Tirupattur Collector V. Nallasivan visited the injured students at the government hospital in Ambur town.