A Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) bus hit another bus with students who were travelling from their school near Kochi to Ooty. This happened late Wednesday, October 5, on the Thrissur- Palakkad highway in Kerala. At least nine people, including five school students, were killed and several others have been injured, stated a report in IANS.

The dead included five students, one teacher and three passengers of the KSRTC bus. State Transport Minister Antony Raju informed that the report was that the private bus which was carrying the school children for a trip was travelling at a speed of about 97.2 km per hour.

"It has also come to be known that neither the school authorities nor the private bus owner informed the Motor Vehicles department about the trip. We are awaiting more details. The private bus after overtaking a car lost control and collided with the KSRTC bus which was ahead of it," said Raju.

As per sources, as stated in a report by IANS, the tourist bus carrying the school children belonged to the Baselious Vidyanikethan School near Kochi and had left two hours late. Incidentally, the driver of the bus had returned from another trip to Tamil Nadu.

"Our bus was travelling at a high speed from the start and when we raised this, we were told that the driver is a very experienced one," said a female teacher.

"Everything happened in a flash and I realised that I was lying on the floor of the bus and several other students were on top of me," said a girl student, who escaped with minor injuries.

There were 42 students, five teachers and two bus drivers on the bus-bound to Ooty. Joemon, the driver of the tourist bus, is reported to have appeared before the police.