Telangana accident: Child's body exhumed, handed over to real parents

Police exhumed the body of a six-year-old boy, one of the victims of Thursday's tragic school bus-train collision in Telangana's Medak district, and handed it over to his parents after a blunder came to light Friday.

The body of Dattu was mistaken as that of Danush alias Darshan Goud and handed over to the latter's parents Thursday and he was buried Friday morning in Kistapur village.

The blunder came to light when Danush, who was critically injured and undergoing treatment at Yashoda Hospital here, regained consciousness and revealed his name and that of his parents.

His father Swami Goud and his wife rushed to the hospital and identified their son. It was a new lease of life for the boy on his eighth birthday and the parents were also emotional over the reunion.

However, it was double tragedy for Veera Babu and Neeraja of Islampur village as after losing their daughter Bhuvana (8) in the same tragedy, they were thinking that their son Dattu was alive and recuperating.

Telangana's Irrigation Minister Harish Rao said Swami Goud was in shock and accepted the body of Dattu mistaking it to be that of his son.

Harish Rao was seen trying to console Dattu's parents. The revenue and police officials exhumed the body of Dattu and conducted the inquest. It was later handed over to his parents.

They were among 14 children (not 19 as the initial reports had put it) killed when a train rammed into a school bus at rail-road crossing at Masayipet in Medak district. The driver and cleaner of the bus were also killed.

Telangana Deputy Chief Minister T. Rajaiah, who visited the Yashoda Hospital Friday said, out of 20 children undergoing treatment, four remained critical.

The driver of the school bus involved in Thursday's accident was reportedly speaking over his mobile phone while driving. He was also said to be a part-time driver who was hired in the absence of the regular driver, who was on leave.

Following public criticism, the railways swung into action to install a gate and deploy a guard at the unmanned crossing. Several workers removed a structure, tree and bushes obstructing the view of the tracks.

The South Central Railway (SCR) also formed a three-member committee for conducting the inquiry into the accident.

Students from several schools of the surrounding villages reached the accident scene and observed two-minute silence in memory of the victims.

The transport department of Telangana also conducted state-wide inspections of school buses to check violation of rules in the wake of Thursday's accident. The officials booked cases against 148 buses and seized 20 of them.

Officials said they would suspend driving licenses of those drivers found negligent. The department decided to conduct a programme to create awareness about the precautions to be taken at unmanned rail-road crossings.