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Eight Children Die, Seven Injured After Train Hits School Van In India — Shocking Reason Behind The Accident Will Make You Angry

By Alap Naik Desai
Published on: 03:50 PST, Jul 27, 2016

Eight children were killed and several injured after a train hit a school van in India. About 20 students were packed inside the school bus at the time of the accident. The van was hit by an oncoming train when it attempted to cross a railway crossing. Appallingly, it appears the accident was caused by the sheer carelessness of the driver.

In addition to the eight schoolchildren lost their lives, six others were grievously injured when the school van was hit by a speeding train at a railway crossing in Meghipur, a village in the Bhadohi district of north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The incident happened Monday afternoon while the schoolchildren were either being dropped off at their respective homes or being picked up by a van deployed by the school administration. All the children involved in the accident belonged to Tender Hearts English School.

All of the kids inside the school van were below the age of 10. However, there appears to be conflicting reports about the circumstances of the accident. According to News 18, the school van was attempting to cross an unmanned railway crossing between Katka and Madhosingh Railway stations when it was hit by a passing train.

The dense Indian railway’s train tracks often intersect roads and even highways in the rural and semi-urban regions. Essentially, an unmanned railway crossing is nothing but a flimsy barricade between a road and the railway tracks. These intersections have no railway officials to monitor the flow of traffic, and alert motorists about any oncoming trains.

In case the railway crossing is manned, operators on duty are entrusted with the responsibility of halting traffic and allowing the trains to pass. While trains are supposed to slow down as a precautionary measure, many times these locomotives hurtle past the intersections at full speed. Worryingly, the decision to cross the railway tracks is left entirely up to the drivers of automobiles and two-wheelers at the unmanned crossings. Many risk death and serious injury to save a few minutes.

According to statistics offered by Indian railways, about 40 percent of the train accidents happen at railway crossings, and thousands are injured every year. At last count, India still has more than 10,000 unmanned railway intersections. While the subcontinent’s government has vowed to step up safety measures in the next four years, it is a behemoth task. Although the country is in the process of doing away with these deathtraps, accidents are a daily occurrence.

According to Reuters, the school van was attempting to cross a manned railway crossing. However, the accident happened because of the driver’s utter carelessness and disregard to safety protocols. According to district police superintendent Arvind Bhushan Pandey, the driver of the school van was wearing headphones on his ears, reported Town Hall. It is not immediately clear why the driver had headphones on or what he was listening to, but it is a common practice among Indians to listen to popular Hindi songs while commuting.

Speaking about the incident, officer Pandey said, “Though the gate-man tried to alert the van driver about the train, the driver couldn’t hear his warnings because he had an earphone on.”

Since the driver didn’t hear or heed the warnings of the gateman, the school van ran straight into the path of a passenger train. The impact threw the van to the side of the road. While the driver and six students were injured, eight students lost their lives. The injured were rushed by locals to a nearby hospital, where they are being treated. The police are still coordinating the rescue efforts, confirmed local news agencies.

[Photo by Narinder Nanu/Getty Images]

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