"Painful...," PM Modi expresses grief over school bus accident in Haryana's Mahendragarh

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday expressed condolences over Haryana's Mahendragarh bus accident that claimed the lives of five children and prayed for the "speedy recovery of the injured."

"The bus accident in Mahendragarh, Haryana is extremely painful. My condolences are with all the families who have lost their children in this accident. Along with this, I wish for the speedy recovery of all the injured children. Under the supervision of the state government, the local administration is engaged in providing all possible help to the victims and their families," PM Modi posted on X.

Earlier, Union Home Minister Amit Shah expressed condolences over Haryana's Mahendragarh bus accident that claimed the lives of five children.
"The accident of a school bus in Mahendragarh, Haryana is very sad. My condolences are with the bereaved families of the deceased children. May God give them the strength to bear this loss. The local administration is providing help to the injured children. I wish them a speedy recovery," Amit Shah posted on X.

Five students were killed, and 15 others were injured after a private school bus they were travelling in overturned in Kanina town of Haryana's Mahendragarh district on Thursday, officials said.

District Collector Monika Gupta said, "It has come to notice that this was a private school that was being run even on a holiday and action will be taken. Six casualties have been reported."
"Treatment of the injured children is going on. Now there is no danger to anyone's life...The government is providing them the best possible treatment. There was also a lack of documents related to the vehicle, so an FIR is being lodged against the school administration as well," he said.

The police said that the preliminary investigation suggests that the driver was driving the bus under the influence of alcohol.
"Upon receiving the information of the incident, we reached the spot. The driver is suspected to be intoxicated. Further investigation into the matter is underway," Mahendragarh Station House Officer (SHO) Uday Bhan said.

One of the students who got injured in the accident said that the bus was overspeeding and collided with a canal, leading to the accident.
"The driver was drunk, and the bus was overspeeding. As soon as the driver tried to take a turn, the bus collided with a canal and overturned. There were 50 students on the bus," the student told police.
Further details are awaited.