9 dead in bus accident in Kerala
Palakkad (Ker) (PTI): Nine people, including five students, were killed after a private tourist bus hit a state-run KSRTC bus from behind at Vadakkenchery here, Kerala Road Transport Minister Antony Raju said on Thursday.
The minister said the accident occurred around 11.30 PM on Wednesday when the private bus, which was travelling at a high speed, while attempting to overtake a car, hit the rear end of a Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) bus.
"Both the buses went off the road as a result. Nine persons, including five students and a teacher, were killed in the accident," he told the media.
The minister also said that the preliminary view was that the accident occurred due to the high speed of the private bus and the negligence of its driver.
He said the KSRTC bus was going from Kottarakkara in Kerala to Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu and had 81 passengers, of whom three died in the accident.
The private bus was carrying 42 students and 5 teachers of Baselios Vidyanikethan Senior Secondary School in Ernakulam, who were on a pleasure trip.
State Local Self Government Minister M B Rajesh, who visited the hospital in Palakkad where the injured were admitted, told reporters that four of them were in serious condition, but the rest were fine.
Meanwhile, state Revenue Minister K Rajan told the media that everyone was in shock regarding what happened.
He said there will be an investigation to ascertain how and why the accident happened and strict measures would be needed to be put in place for preventing such incidents in the future.
Rajan said a cabinet meeting will be held to consider providing compensation to the families who lost loved ones in the accident and that counselling may have to be provided to the students who lost close friends and a teacher in the tragic incident.
One of the students told a TV channel that the private bus was going at a very high speed and then rammed into the rear right side of the KSRTC bus and then toppled over.
"There was blood everywhere. We do not know what has happened to some of our friends and teachers who were in bad shape," he said, breaking into tears.
Another student said that she was watching a film when the accident occurred and someone landed on top of her as the bus toppled over.
"Someone pulled me and another girl out from the bus. But the girl sitting close to me could not be pulled out until much later," she said.
Around 40 persons were injured in the accident, police said.
Tragic Road accident in Kerala as tourist bus carrying students collided with Government bus near Walayar - Vadakancheri region. 9 dead. pic.twitter.com/GQMB1AyVjb
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Bomb threats to Delhi Secretariat, Assembly, Red Fort and two schools declared hoax
New Delhi (PTI): Multiple institutions, including the Delhi Secretariat, Delhi Assembly, Red Fort and two schools in the national capital, received bomb threats via email on Monday, which were later declared hoax, officials said.
An official of the Delhi Fire Services confirmed that Delhi Secretariat, Delhi Army Public School in Dhaula Kuan and Air Force Bal Bharti School on Lodhi Road received bomb threats.
The threat emails were also received on the official ID of the Delhi Assembly and its Speaker at 8 am, reportedly from the Khalistan National Army, sources said.
Delhi Assembly Speaker Vijender Gupta asked the Delhi Police for immediate appropriate action on the bomb threat received on his personal email id.
"The Speaker, Delhi Legislative Assembly has desired that immediate necessary appropriate action be taken in the matter and an investigation be carried out to trace the source of these emails keeping in view the serious warnings about the bomb blast threats to Delhi Legislative Assembly Secretariat and Speaker in person," the Speaker office in a letter to Delhi Police Commissioner said.
The threatening emails mention “Delhi banega Khalistan” (Delhi will become Khalistan) and read that there will be blasts in Delhi Army School, Red Fort and Metros in the next three days.
The emails claimed a blast at the Delhi Army school at 1.11 pm, Vidhan Sabha at 3.11 pm and Red Fort at 9.11 am today, they said.
After receiving the threatening emails, the administrations of both schools informed authorities in the morning, a senior police officer said.
As a precautionary measure, the premises were evacuated, and thorough search operations were carried out, the officer said.
"After nothing suspicious was found, it was declared a hoax," the officer added.
An Aam Aadmi Party leader and former MLA, Dilip K Pandey, in a post on X said, "Today, I received a bomb threat on my personal email ID, and since the matter was related to public safety, I have immediately forwarded the email to Delhi Police."
Upon receiving the information, teams from the Delhi Police, the bomb disposal squad, dog squad and Delhi Fire Services rushed to the spots and cordoned off the areas around the schools and other locations.
"We are verifying the source of the emails and further investigation is underway," the officer added.
The cyber cell has been roped in to trace the origin of the emails and identify the sender. Search operations are continuing.
