School bus overturns after lorry rams it; 19 hurt

Ramanathapuram: A private school bus overturned after a high-impact collision with a lorry near Sathirakudi on Tuesday morning, causing minor injuries to 19 people.Police said the bus carrying 40 people, including 37 students, two teachers, and driver, was travelling on the Madurai-Rameswaram National Highway after picking up students from nearby villages to the school at Sathirakudi. As the bus took a left turn from the highway to enter the school premises, a speeding lorry carrying gravel stone rammed into its rear, causing the bus to overturn.Locals and commuters rushed to the site to pull the students out of the overturned vehicle. The injured were immediately rushed in ambulances to the Ramanathapuram Govt Medical College Hospital. The incident brought traffic to a standstill for sometime on the NH.Sathirakudi police initiated an investigation, and arrested lorry driver, Suresh, 31, after registering a case. The bus driver, two teachers, and 16 students who sustained minor bleeding injuries were treated and discharged. Ramanathapuram RTO has written a letter to Aruppukottai RTO to suspend the driving licence of the lorry driver, district collector Simranjeet Singh Kahlon told TOI.