Maha school picnic turns tragic, teacher killed, 5 students injured

Solapur: A 3-day long school picnic turned tragic on the final day when a state roadways bus in which the students and teachers were returning home to Maharashtra's Solapur from Ratnagiri crashed into a stationery tempo, killing one teacher, officials said on Thursday.

The incident occurred near Vatpali-Phata around dawn when the state transport bus bound for Bawda in Indapur town rammed into a tempo loaded with a consignment of bamboo, parked on a blind curve on the thoroughfare after a tyre puncture on the Malshiras-Indapur road.

One of the four teachers aboard the bus was killed instantly in the crash and another was seriously hurt, along with at least 5 other students.

The 3-day excursion-cum-picnic to the Ganpatipule in the coastal Konkan Ratnagiri was organised by the Shri Shivaji Vidyalaya from Tuesday and they were returning home when the accident happened around 6 am.

The deceased teacher has been identified as Balkrishna Kale and his injured colleague is Ramakant Shirsat, besides five other students. The injured have been rushed to a hospital in Akluj.

The Solapur police teams with senior officials are at the accident spot and investigating the exact causes of the accident. The ST bus which suffered serious damage on the front portion was shifted aside later and the morning traffic jam was cleared in a couple of hours.