Darjeeling: Four youth saved 11 school children from drowning when the vehicle they were going to school in lost control and plunged into a canal.
The incident occurred at around 9:30 am on Friday in the Darabox area of Phansidewa in Darjeeling. The pool car ferrying students of a private school plunged into the Mahananda canal. "We had come for morning walk and were drinking tea when we heard a huge splash. On closer inspection, we saw that a vehicle had plunged into the canal. We immediately dived into the water and managed to pull out the 11 kids," stated Motilal Burman. He was accompanied by Arun Singh, Sanjay Karmakar and Bishnu Karmakar.
One of the rescuers stated that though the driver immediately swam up to the shore, he had made no attempts to rescue the students. Later police and the fire brigade arrived.
The vehicle was hauled out from the canal. The rescued students were taken to the hospital. They are aged between 5 to 10 years old. Sanjay Das, Officer in charge, Phansidewa police station stated that the driver has been detained for questioning.