HIGHLIGHTS
At least 13 children were killed when a passenger train
rammed into their school van at an unmanned railway
crossing in UP's Kushinagar district
UP CM has announced an ex gratia payment of Rs 2
lakh each to the kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 for
the injured
GORAKHPUR: At least 13 children, aged between seven
and 11 years, died on the spot and four others were
injured when a passenger train rammed into their school
van at an unmanned railway crossing in UP's Kushinagar
district on Thursday morning. A nine-year-old survivor told
TOI that the driver couldn't hear the children screaming to
warn him about the fast-approaching Sivan- Gorakhpur
passenger train as he was talking on his cellphone.
A controversy erupted soon after when chief minister
Yogi Adityanath, who reached the site of the accident in
Vishunpura, told the locals protesting on the railway tracks
to stop the "nautanki (drama)".
One of the four survivors, Krishna Verma, who sustained
an injury on his leg, told TOI: "We were shouting and
asking driver uncle to stop the van but he didn't as he was
busy talking on his phone and was not able to hear us."
According to other witnesses, passers-by tried to stop the
driver but he drove the van with 17 schoolchildren straight
onto the railway tracks. "Driver uncle went very close to
the train. When I gained consciousness, I was among
others who were lying on the ground and not moving,"
said Krishna, whose 10-year-old sister Roshni is critical. 