Schoolchildren die as bus plunges into canal

At least 42 people, most of them schoolchildren, were killed when a bus plunged into a canal in western India, reports said today.

Rescuers pulled four surviving children from the canal waters after the accident near Vadodara city in Gujarat state, the Press Trust of India said.

“Forty-two bodies, most of them of children, have so far been fished out from the canal,” local deputy superintendent of police Amit Vishwakarama said.

PTI reported that the bus was carrying between 40 to 50 passengers, but several television channels reported that there were more than 60 passengers on board.

The state government rushed medical teams to the scene, Vadodara city official Ketan Thakkar told NDTV news channel.