The wreckage of the school bus is seen at the site of the accident in Jalandhar yesterday.
Agencies/Jalandhar, Punjab
A school bus collided with a truck laden with bricks in rural Punjab yesterday morning, killing at least 12 children, police said.
Seven died at the scene of the accident in Jaheer village, with a further five succumbing to their injuries in hospital, an official said.
Nearly 30 children were travelling in the mini-bus, senior police officer Rajinder Singh said.
The bus driver was also killed in the accident, the official said adding “the bus crashed head on with the truck.”
Most of the victims were aged between 6 and 10 years. The death toll could rise with two children in critical condition.
Bags, books, lunch boxes and water bottles of the victims lay strewn at the scene of the accident. The school bus was badly damaged.
Eyewitnesses told the police that the bus and the truck were speeding when the collision took place.
The impact of the accident was such that the roof of the school bus was sheared off.
About 110,000 people were killed in Indian road accidents in 2011 - more than 300 every day- according to the National Crime Records Bureau. Bad roads, speeding vehicles and poor driving were among the contributing factors.