Schoolbus falls in river,4 kids among 6 dead

Police have arrested the bus driver and owner Rajesh Chandra Naik on charges of culpable homicide.

Naik has claimed that the brakes failed, DIG Ravindra Yadav said. Naik was reportedly also operating without a licence.

The dead have been identified as Priyal Salgaoncar 10,Diana Dias 8,Elvina Dias 11 and Nigel Gracias 10,along with parents Josephine Dias 58 and Dayanand Hoble 55. Their bodies have been recovered. Search is on for another woman who was in the bus at the time of the accident.

There was some confusion over the number of passengers as Naik allegedly tried to play down the casualties. The police had to give up search at night as light failed.

The bus sank almost without a sound with the children too stunned to even scream. Among the eyewitnesses was sailor Francis Robeiro who would often take the parents who died in the crash home in his ferry after their bus supervision duty.

From the bus starting to slide down into the river to sinking inside,it was all over in a matter of minutes,he said. Sub-division police officer Bossuet Silva confessed they knew they wouldnt find any survivors.

As dark settled in,a man sat by the bus,holding a maths notebook belonging to his daughter,going through it almost unconsciously. Chancing upon a page,he suddenly broke down and started banging the dented bus. If he was looking for answers,there werent any here.