44 children killed in crash

INDIA: AT LEAST 44 schoolchildren and three adults were killed yesterday when their bus veered off a bridge and plunged into a canal in western India, police said.

Their bodies have been recovered, but some children were still missing, said RK Patel, a senior police officer in Gujarat state. Four children were rescued.

The accident occurred in Vadodara, about 90km (55 miles) southwest of Ahmedabad, Gujarat's main city. The public bus was carrying more than 60 children and other passengers, officials added.

They said the driver of the bus lost control and ploughed through a concrete railing on the bridge, plunging the bus into the canal.

Television pictures showed grieving parents trying to identify their children from among rows of bodies laid out by the canal. Rescuers used boats to look for more bodies in the canal.

Many parents, uncertain if their children were on the bus, were also seen rummaging through schoolbags recovered from the water to see if these belonged to their children. -

© 2008 Reuters

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times