Two students killed as truck rams school bus

Two students were killed and 15 students were injured when a truck coming from the opposite direction rammed a private school bus in Chilamatturu at the Kodikonda checkpost turning, off national highway 7, near the town on Monday. 

The incident occurred when the driver tried to turn the stationary bus towards Chilamatturu.

Soni and Kishore, both aged 8 and hailing from Morampalli village of Kodikonda in Andhra Pradesh, are the victims. The truck, an Eicher vehicle, was set afire by angry parents and villagers. Traffic was thrown out of gear for six hours on the road following the incident. The highway is a key arterial road for vehicles from Bangalore bound for Anantapur, Kadiri and Hyderabad.  Two of the students in the bus were seriously injured and have been admitted to hospitals in Hindupur and Bangalore. Parents of students from Morampalli, Balijapalli, Digavapalli and Kodikonda villages in Andhra Pradesh came to the spot and set fire to both the school bus and the truck. 

The protestors raised slogans against the deputy commissioner and the elected representatives by keeping the bodies of the dead students on the road.

The Andhra Pradesh police had a tough time dispersing the mob. Deputy Commissioner Durgaprasad, Hindupur tahsildar Gopalakrishna and MLA Abdul Ghani visited the spot.

Members of the Students Federation of India held a protest demanding the construction of a road overbridge at the checkpost.