VIJAYAWADA:In a freak accident, an eight-year-old girl N Lahari died when a palm tree trunk that lay on the roadside jackknifed into a school bus which rammed into it, near Nutakki, in Mangalagiri mandal of Guntur district Friday morning. The impact was such that the tree trunk ripped the bus apart, displacing the girl from her seat, leading to her instantaneous death.
The incident occurred when the driver of the bus, who is reported to be phsically challenged, tried to avoid hitting a pedestrian, served to a side, lost control because the vehicle was at a very high speed and ran over palm tree trunks lying on the road.
According to Mangalagiri Rural SI B Ankama Rao, Vignan Vihar English Medium school bus was travelling on the Kolkata-Chennai highway with 29 children when the mishap occurred. Eight more students, who were injured in the accident, were admitted to various hosptials.
“The sharp edges of the trunk pierced through the floor of the bus and hit the upper part of Lahari’s body who sat on the second row from the rear side of the vehicle and pushed her out of her of the bus along with the seat. The accident site presented a gory spectacle with the upper part of the girl’s body hanging from the rear side of the vehicle,” he said.
The police arrested driver Parameswara Rao and sent him for medical examination. A case was registered against him under IPC Section 304 (A) for causing death due to negligent action and investigation is on. After hearing the news of the accident, parents of the deceased rushed to the spot.