Meerut: Narrow escape for kids as schoolbus submerges in waterlogged underpass

MEERUT: As many as 21 schoolchildren had a narrow escape on Friday afternoon when their schoolbus submerged under a waterclogged railway underpass in Kharkhoda area. The incident happened when the vehicle was on its way to drop the students home.According to the police, the bus, while passing through the underpass near Chandsara village, started sinking in the water owing to incessant rains in the city during the past two days. Cries of the children caught the attention of villagers nearby who jumped into the water and evacuated them through the bus windows , As Reported By TOI.

According to the Newspaper,By the time the last child was rescued, the bus got submerged completely."I was passing by when I heard the terrified children screaming. The bus had begun to submerge by then and realising there was little time, I jumped and began pulling the kids through the windows. Fortunately, more villagers had assembled by then and they all helped in rescuing the kids,” said Salman Ahmad, a resident of Chandsara village.Station house officer of Partapur police station, Girija Shankar Tripathi, said, “When the driver felt that it wasn’t wise to drive the bus further, he tried to pull the vehicle in reverse but by then the water had entered the silencer of the vehicle and it's engin stopped.