Train collides with school bus in India, killing 12 children

A train collided with a school bus in the newly-formed state of Telangana in southern India, killing at least 12 children along with the bus driver. Indian officials fear that the death toll could rise up to 25.

Police officer Ravi Nallamala said that at least 16 children aged 7 to 14 have been hospitalised.

The school bus was carrying around 38 children from the Kakatiya Techno Scool in the town of Toopran. Indian Railways spokesman Anil Kumar Saxena said that the tragedy occurred when the school bus driver drove through a rail track at an unmanned railway crossing without first checking to see whether the way was clear. The train was travelling from Nanded in the state of Maharashtra to Hyderabad. It slammed into the bus, dragging it several hundred metres down the tracks. Further investigations have been ordered.

Nobody on the train was killed.

This is the latest in a long series of Indian railroad accidents. India’s state-run railway network carries up to 23 million passengers every day. However, a 2012 government report said that around 15,000 people are killed every year on the network, with blame being primarily attributed to poor safety measures, poor maintenance, and human error. Poor finances mean that dangerous railway crossings are often understaffed.