Odisha: 5 school children mowed down by truck

Five school children were crushed to death while six left critically injured after a truck ran over them in Odisha's Bhadrak district on Thursday.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has announced an ex gratia relief of Rs 2 lakh each to the families of the deceased. The injured students will receive free medical support, he added.

The incident took place at around 4 pm on National Highway 16 at Ranitala when the children were returning from school on their bicycles.

The driver and the cleaner of the bus fled the spot.

Following the incident, residents of the area reportedly set the truck on fire.10 platoons of police force were deployed to contain the situation after the agitated public attacked the police vehicles.

At around 9.30 pm, police cleared the National Highway and sent the dead bodies for post-mortem.

--ANI