Lucknow: Speeding bus crushes two kids sleeping on pavement

LUCKNOW: Two minor girls were crushed to death in their sleep and five persons grievously injured when a speeding bus hit a three-wheeler and climbed a pavement at Engineering College intersection in Jankipuram early on Thursday morning.
The interstate bus, coming from Delhi, also bulldozed a passenger shed and rammed two power poles - holding up a 33KV transmission line - before coming to a halt.The driver fled the spot, leaving behind the vehicle with 60 passengers.
Police have identified the deceased as Pooja (6) and Khusboo (13). The injured include their brother Karan (4), father Dinesh (40) who owns a paan shop and cobbler Babbu (20). The driver and a passenger of the three-wheeler, Saddam (18) and Akram (50), were also injured.
The father-son duo and Babbu have suffered multiple fractures while Saddam and Akram have head injuries. They are all critical, doctors at KGMU said.
According to eyewitnesses, the accident took place around 5.30am. The bus in top gear first hit the three-wheeled passenger vehicle, which overturned on impact. As the bus next ran over sleeping pavement dwellers and ploughed into the poles, two policemen on patrol called for backup and directed Lucknow Electricity Supply Administration to snap power supply.
With the help of local residents, police pulled out the victims from under the mangled bus and the threewheeler. Pooja and Khusboo were declared brought dead at KGMU. Shyamu Verma
(28), an eyewitness, said it was no less than a miracle that some of the victims survived.
Jankipuram SHO Mohammad Ashraf said the 60 passengers inside the bus received minor bruises. “The driver fled the scene. He will be identified and booked,” the officer added.