the goan I network
VASCO
Around 70 students of a school at Sancoale had a lucky escape on Tuesday afternoon after a tanker collided with two school buses carrying students in front of Zuari Indian Oil Tanking Limited (ZIOTL) at Sancoale.
According to an eyewitness, Ismail Shaikh, the accident occurred at around 1.30 pm, when the tanker (GA-05-T-3786) was moving from Vasco to Verna.
“The two school buses (GA-08-V-6869 and GA-03-C-5712) with around 70 students were turning from the meridian opening in front of ZIOTL gates along the highway to move towards Vasco.”
“The tanker driver claimed the brakes failed and the truck rammed into one school bus and the bus, in turn, hit another. Luckily, students had minor injuries,” said Shaikh.
Shaikh said he dialled 100 a number of times but the call did not go through and traffic was held up along the highway for over half an hour.
“I have a licence for a first aid course in the UK and I immediately stopped to see if I could help the students. But luckily, they only had minor injuries except for one student, who sustained an injury on his hand.”
“The ZIOTL staff were kind enough and rushed to the site and also offered first aid and help to students. But strangely, no police complain was registered in the incident.”
Shaikh said the buses were later removed after someone from the school arrived at the site and insisted that the buses be removed from the area as it was causing a traffic jam.
“ZIOTL staff also cleared the traffic by being present on the site. It is said that no police complaint was made and if any of the students had sustained major injuries, then who would be held responsible? Such incidents should be reported to prevent similar incidents in future for the safety of students,” said Shaikh.
Verna police station and Zuarinagar Birla police outpost claimed that they had not received any information about the accident.
