SILCHAR: Nearly 25 people, most of them children, were injured when a bus rolled off the National Highway 37 in Assam’s Hailakandi district on Tuesday morning, police said.

Police said the accident took place when the bus, carrying students and teachers of the district’s Katakhal Public School, was on its way to a picnic. An officer said 20 of the 25 persons injured in the accident were students. Four persons were referred to the Silchar Medical College and Hospital for treatment.

Additional superintendent of police of Hailakandi district, Samir Baruah said the police was carrying out further investigations in the case.

The accident took place in the Katakhal area of Hailakandi district at about 10:30am on Tuesday when a cyclist suddenly appeared before the bus. The driver tried to save the cyclist and hit another vehicle before losing control and rolling off the edge of the highway.

A team of Hailakandi police and personnel of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) reached the spot and rescued the injured. “They were immediately shifted to a nearby hospital and the doctors referred four of them to SMCH,” an official said.

“We are trying to find the reason behind the incident. But our first priority was to provide proper medical support to the injured,” Addl SP Samir Baruah added.