Tempo rams into school van, claims 8-yr-old boy

New Delhi: An eight-year-old schoolboy was killed while nine other children were injured after the private school van they were travelling in was hit by a tempo in north Delhi's Timarpur area on Tuesday.

Cops said the van was carrying ten students of a private school located in Model Town back to their homes, when a tempo laden with goods crashed into it from behind at around 2 pm.

The impact of the crash – which occurred at Tara Chowk in Timarpur – was so severe that both the vehicles tipped to their sides. Passersby and locals in the area helped the students out of the Maruti Eeco school van and rushed them to a nearby hospital.

Cops said that while the van driver Salman was unhurt, all the children suffered injuries. However, Vaibhav Kumar Yadav, a Class III student, succumbed to his injuries.

The boy's father Vinod Kumar Yadav is an Assistant Sub-Inspector in the Crime Branch of Delhi Police.

According to police, the private van mostly ferried students to school and back home. It had been hired by the parents of the school children, all of whom lived in the same neighbourhood.

"A case under section 337, 279 and 304A (of the Indian Penal Code) has been registered against the tempo driver. He has been identified as Salman, a resident of Azadpur mandi, and has been arrested," said Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Harender Kumar Singh.

Though most of the injured students are under observation at the hospital, a girl child who received severe head injuries has been admitted to LNJP Hospital. However, doctors added that she is out of danger.

Accidents of vans and private vehicles carrying schoolchildren are becoming frequent in the national Capital. This year, till November 15, Delhi Police has prosecuted 6,532 school vans for various offences.

While 62 have been prosecuted for overcrowding, 14 have been prosecuted for wrong overtaking.

Police sources further said that they took action against 105 school vans for violating traffic signals, whereas 57 drivers were caught for driving without a license.

Moreover, 396 were prosecuted for violation of their permit, while action was also taken in 110 cases where a minor was driving the school van.

The highest number of prosecutions, i.e. 2,090, was for instances where the offending drivers were not wearing seat belts. Moreover, action was initiated against 1,247 drivers for driving without the registration certificate of their vehicle.