TN: 428 students packed in a lorry, 19 swoon

Madurai, Feb 3: Nineteen of the more than 400 school students, taken in a lorry to a cinema, swooned and were hospitalised and five people, including three teachers responsible for the offence were arrested at Uppur near Thiruvadanai Ramanathapuram district.

Police in Ramanathapuram said yesterday the incident occurred when 428 students were stacked and transported in lorry to a cinema hall at nearby R S Mangalam town for the morning show of a movie on late Congress stalwart K Kamaraj.

After a two-km journey, some of the students raised an alarm drawing the attention of the public on the road side. Irate people forcibly stopped the vehicle and found 19 of the students having swooned. The affected children were rushed to the government hospital at R S Mangalam.

Three teachers of the Government High School, with a strength of about 800 students, had made the arrangements charging Rs 15 per head without due permission from the Headmistress.

The Thirupalaikudi police arrested the teachers Abimannan, Pandiselvan and Hariharan besides the lorry driver and the cleaner.

The District Chief Educational Officer, who visited the school, said the errant teachers had been placed under suspension.

Instructions were already given not to transport students on lorries and trucks, he added.

An inquiry by the Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) had been ordered into the incident.

UNI