Two school-goers die in separate accidents

Two 13-year-old school-goers were killed in two separate road accidents in East Burdwan and Purulia on Tuesday morning. Local people put up road blocks in both the incidents protesting against the accidents.

The victim, Koyel Bandyopadhyay, a Class VII student of Baidyadanga Girls' High School, was killed after being run over by a truck on Tuesday morning when she was heading to her school on a bicycle near Rosulpur Market at Memari in East Burdwan.

A mob set the offending truck on fire and the road block continued for hours that led to massive traffic congestion causing inconvenience to commuters.

A police officer said that like all other days the girl was going to her school on her bicycle. Suddenly, a speeding truck hit the girl on the GT Road near Rosulpur Market.

Local people came running to the spot hearing the girl's cries for help and found her lying in a pool of blood. They took her to a hospital where she was declared brought dead.

The driver of the offending truck failed to flee with the vehicle after the accident from the congested area. Local people set the offending truck on fire and it led to a palpable tension in the area. A large contingent of police rushed to the spot and rescued the driver from being manhandled by local people.

The situation took a worse turn when people came to know that the girl was declared brought dead. They put up a road block protesting against the accident and demanded necessary steps to avoid such accident in future in the area.

Many students of the victim's school, too, joined in the protest and they too demanded deployment of policemen in the area so that school-goers do not face any trouble while heading towards their school.

The road block was withdrawn after senior police officers intervened. The top brass of the district police assured that more policemen will be deployed during the school hours and there will be a watch to ensure that no vehicles ply at high speeds during the school time.

In Purulia, another Class VII student Dipak Bauri was killed after being hit by a state-run bus near Nadiha on Tuesday morning. Local people protested against the road accident that claimed the life of the school student and put up a road block.

In another road accident, drivers of two pool cars were injured when their cars collided head on at Adra in Purulia. Both of them were admitted to hospitals with severe injuries.