School Bus Overturns in Rohta, Meerut: Over a Dozen Children Hurt

What happened

A private school’s bus, taking children to school, left the road and overturned in a field in the Rohta area of Meerut district, Uttar Pradesh, on the morning of Wednesday, 28 October 2026. It happened at about 7.30 am on the Chindauri-Amanullahpur road. No deaths have been reported. Early reports spoke of about 12 injured children; later reports put the number higher, and no official final count has come out. Checked 29 October 2026.

Villagers and people working in nearby fields reached the bus first. They broke the windows and pulled the children out one by one, and the injured went by ambulance and private vehicles to hospitals around Modipuram and Meerut. Police and senior officers, including the rural superintendent of police, came later. One report says the field was about six feet below the road.

Where the reports disagree

• How many were hurt: about 12 in the first reports, 14 or “more than 15” in some, and 20 in a later Hindi daily report. A police statement quoted by one outlet speaks of 13 to 14 children with minor injuries and two under treatment, one with a broken hand and one with a serious head injury. We have used “over a dozen” in the headline and listed each figure with who gave it.
• How many were aboard: one report says about 22 children. Others only say the bus was full.
• What went wrong: the driver is reported to have told police he swerved to avoid a bike. The school’s manager is quoted as saying the steering failed. Villagers and parents alleged that the driver was drunk, and the school manager denied it. Two early reports mention high speed. No test result, mechanical report or police finding has been published, so none of this is established.
• The driver: early reports said he ran away from the spot. Later reports say he was detained.

The bus papers

Parents alleged that the bus’s fitness certificate had run out years ago, and the school manager did not give a firm answer on that. The regional transport officer is quoted as saying the bus was registered in 2004 (one subheading prints 2024, which looks like a slip) and that three other school buses were found without papers. The rural SP said all the school’s buses would be checked by the transport department and that no bus without a valid fitness certificate would be allowed to run. A Hindi daily’s headline that evening says a case was filed on the parents’ complaint and five vehicles were seized, but we could not open that page, so treat it as unconfirmed. A parent’s allegation is not a finding.

What is not known

We do not know the final injured count or how the two serious cases are doing, whether the fitness certificate was valid, the driver’s licence status, the speed, whether the driver was drunk, or whether there was a mechanical fault. We found no official cause statement by 29 October.

Live or travel around Meerut? Our Meerut safety guide lists the emergency numbers, the fire stations listed for the district and the main local hazards of the city.

Names of the children and the school are left out on purpose.

What parents and schools can check

• Ask the school for the basics in writing: a valid fitness certificate, insurance, the driver’s licence and training, an attendant on board, and a speed limit for the route. Rules differ a little from state to state and we have not checked Uttar Pradesh’s current school bus rules line by line, so ask the school for its transport policy.
• Look at the bus itself: sound seats, working doors and an emergency exit, a first-aid box and a fire extinguisher. A GPS tracker and a speed limiter are required or encouraged in many places; ask whether this bus has them.
• Older buses need more care, not less. A bus that has run for 20 years should be inspected more often. Our piece on what to do when a school bus has a safety defect explains how to report one and follow up.
• Drivers: no driver should take the wheel after drinking or when unwell, and none should speed on a rural road with children aboard. If you suspect a driver is drunk, tell the school and the police on 112 at once.
• If a bus overturns near you: stop safely, call 112 and 108, keep children still if they complain of neck or head pain, and help them out through the windows or the door only if the bus is stable. Do not leave the injured alone. Read what to do at a road accident, the golden hour and how to call 112, 101 or 108.

School safety goes beyond the road. Use our school building safety checklist. For night and village roads, see night travel in shared tempos and on hill highways.