Kanpur: At least 18 students had a narrow escape following the school van they were travelling after it caught fire on Thursday.
The incident happened at 5.40 pm when the van carrying 18 students of SR Memorial Junior High School Arwal reached near Barry crossing in the Shivrajpur police station area.
The van driver, unaware of the fire, kept driving the vehicle at his own pace.
However, sub-inspector Omprakash and sub-inspector Ajit Yadav, who was coming from the rear side of the van, noticed the fire in the vehicle.
Overtaking the vehicle, they stopped the van and took out the children safely.
A teacher, Mridula, was also present in the school van along with the children.
DCP West announced a Rs 15,000 reward each for the sub-inspectors. Along with this, Police Commissioner BP Jogdand will honour the sub-inspectors by giving them citations for doing commendable work.
Notably, the van had more children on board than its capacity. SDM Bilhaur Rashmi Lamba has directed an investigation into the matter.
