In separate accidents on Thursday at least 16 people died and two were injured due to negligent driving in northern and eastern India, news reports said, according to dpa. Nine school students were killed when the small bus in which they were travelling collided head-on with a coal-laden truck in the western state West Bengal's Dinajpur district, about 480 kilometres north of state capital Kolkata, reported news agency PTI. At least seven people were crushed to death and two sustained injury, all of whom were having their morning tea by the road, when a loaded ten-wheel truck overturned on them near Allahabad city in the northern state Uttar Pradesh, about 238 kilometres south-east of state capital Lucknow. Rough driving is said to be the reason behind the accident and a case has been registered against the driver, a police official told PTI. India has among the poorest road safety records in the world and registers the highest number of road fatalities after China.
