A tragic accident in Kerala’s Kannur district on Wednesday killed a 10-year-old girl and left 18 other students injured when a school bus overturned at Valakkai. The tragic incident occurred when the bus of Chinmaya School in Kurumathur lost control near the Valakkai Bridge while giving way to another vehicle.
The deceased student, Nedhya S. Rajesh, a Class 5 student, was thrown out of the bus and crushed to death under its wheels as it overturned.
At the time of the accident, the bus was carrying 20 students. Local authorities have confirmed that one student is in critical condition and others suffered different levels of injury. The injured students were immediately rushed to Taliparamba Taluk Hospital for treatment, and Nedhya’s body was taken to the Government Medical College in Pariyaram.
The accident occurred on a hill, where early accounts indicated a probable brake failure leading to a loss of control over the vehicle by the driver. According to the police, the entire incident will be probed further to understand its cause. Area sources attribute this to the “unscientific design” of the road. These sources believe that such incidents frequently occur in this area.
CCTV Footage Goes Viral
#Kerala: #ChinmayaSchool bus overturning, falling off service road on to a state highway in Valakkai, #Sreekantapuram #Kannur; 11-year-old, class V student, Nedya S Rajesh was killed, 13 other kids got injured; unscientific road design blamed for tragedy pic.twitter.com/bZABxavsCZ
— Siraj Noorani (@sirajnoorani) January 2, 2025
Social media has now seen circulating CCTV footage of the accident in which a school bus went off course, flipped, and ended up overturning into the opposite lane. Locals have been captured on video racing towards the accident site in a rush to assist people shortly after the accident occurred. T
Police have registered a case against the bus driver under several provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, such as rash driving and death caused by negligence. The bus was said to have skidded off while moving down the slope from the Valakkai Bridge when it flipped, Kerala government officials said.
No immediate statement has been released by Chinmaya School officials regarding the incident.
ALSO READ: Bangladesh Court Denies Bail To Hindu Monk Chinmoy Krishna Das
