Six schoolchildren and the driver of the SUV they were travelling in were killed when a truck collided head on with the vehicle at Rampur in Chakulia on NH31 this afternoon.
Four other children were injured in the crash.
The deceased children, Himesh Sen, 8, Arnab Majumdar, 10, Gopal Sarkar, 9, Rik Das, 8, Mehdat Hossain, 8, and Shaheen Azmi, 8, were students of St Xavier’s School in Kishenganj, Bihar.
The children, studying between Classes II and IV, were from Chakulia in North Dinajpur, 12km from Kishenganj.
The deceased driver, Jaffar Ali, 35, was also a resident of Chakulia.
Following the accident around 3.30pm, local people blocked NH31 at Rampur, 30km from here.
The area in North Dinajpur is about 3km from Kishenganj.
The agitators hurled stones at policemen and their vehicle when they tried to disperse the crowd.
Police sources said, around 6pm, the crowd tried to set the coal-laden truck on fire. The police burst tear gas shells and baton charged to disperse the mob, sources said.
All the children were taken to the MGM Medical College and Hospital in Kishenganj where six were pronounced brought dead.
“An eight-year-old girl, Parikha, has been admitted to the hospital. There were 12 children in the pool car. Two boys got off at Rampur moments before the accident. Three children have been referred to North Bengal Medical College and Hospital in Siliguri,” a police source said.
Himesh’s father Bakul, who runs a fertiliser shop at Chakulia, said: “I cannot say anything. My son used to go to school with his friends and now, all of them are gone.”
Mehdat’s uncle Anjum Ali said the vehicle in which the children were travelling was a hired pool car. “The kids used to take the car to school and back. Mehdat’s father Manirul Hossain owns a medicine shop in Chakulia bazaar. He is in shock after this tragedy. My nephew left home around 9am today. His school gave over at 3pm like any other day,” Anjum said.
Subdivisional police officer of Islampur, Vaibhav Tewari, said the truck driver fled after the crash.
“It seems that the truck was going towards Siliguri. The driver fled after the accident. There was a road blockade and the police were attacked by a mob at the spot. We had to burst tear gas to disperse the crowd,” Tewari added.
