At least nine schoolchildren were killed and 20 others injured in Bihar yesterday after an SUV crashed into them outside their school in an apparent hit-and-run, police said.
Officers said the driver hit the children at speed as he was driving away from another location close to the school, where his vehicle had brushed against a pedestrian.
The incident took place in Muzaffarpur district, around 70km from the state capital Patna.
“Eyewitnesses have told us that the driver didn’t stop even after running over these middle-school children,” Anil Kumar Singh, deputy inspector general of police said.
“His car overturned after the accident and he ran away from the spot. We are still looking for him,” he said.
The 20 injured children have been admitted to hospital, he added.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has expressed sorrow and grief over the incident.
The state government said it would give compensation of Rs400,000 for the family of each of the deceased.
In another accident, an elderly woman was killed and eight others, including students, were injured when a private school bus and an SUV collided head-on in Haryana’s Gurugram, police said.
The Suraj School’s bus and the Scorpio collided on the Gurugram-Pataudi road.
Police said the 65-year-old woman, identified as Kailash Devi and travelling in the SUV, died on the spot.
Six people in the car were injured, some critically, and they were admitted to the Rockland Hospital in Manesar.
Two students in the bus were also injured.
Relatives wait outside a hospital where many of the students injured in the Muzaffarpur accident are admitted.
