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Police hunt for drivers after nine pupils killed in India school bus crash

Two men fled the scene after a school bus and truck crashed head-on in the northern state of Rajasthan

Adam Withnall
Tuesday 30 July 2013 09:26 BST
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A school bus has crashed into a truck in northern India, killing nine children and injuring 20 others.

The drivers of both vehicles fled the scene, and police have launched a wide scale man hunt to track them down.

Witnesses said the bus driver was attempting to overtake another vehicle when he slammed head-on into the oncoming truck.

Police spokesman Vishnu Khatri said the bus was carrying around 30 children when the accident occurred in Hanumangarh in Rajasthan state.

At least seven were killed instantly, and two others died in a nearby hospital, he said.

Hanumangarh is about 220 miles (350km) north-west of New Delhi, not far from the Pakistan border.

The crash comes just a week after 26 people were killed in two separate road incidents in the south of the country, including another collision involving a bus and a truck when a vehicle attempted to overtake on a bend in the road.

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