(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-04-17 10:51

BAMROLI, India: A bus veered off a bridge and plunged into a canal in western India on Wednesday, killing at least 44 children and three adults, the police said.

Many bodies have been recovered, but some children were still missing, said R.K. Patel, a senior police officer in Gujarat State. Four children were rescued.

The accident occurred in Vadodara, about 90 kilometers, or 55 miles, southwest of Ahmedabad, Gujarat's main city.

Relatives of Indian children gather around bodies at a temporary mortuary in Bodeli, some 170 kms south of Ahmedabad April 16, 2008. [Agencies]

The public bus was carrying more than 60 children and some passengers from three villages in the region, officials said.

They said the driver lost control after one of the tires burst and ploughed through a concrete railing on the bridge, plunging the bus into the canal.

"I was sitting in the last seat and suddenly I felt the bus going down," said Sunil Thakore, 13. "I could see everything floating outside, and tried to call but there was no one around. I tried to pull my friend along, but it was impossible for me to swim with him."

The driver of the bus, an assistant and a woman were among the dead, the police said.

Angry villagers said many children could have been saved if rescue operations started in time.

"For two hours I could see bodies floating in the canal, but nobody came to help us and all we could do was cry and scream for help," said Rambhai Thakore, a villager from Bamroli, which lost 15 girls in the accident.

Hundreds of villagers in Bamroli joined grieving parents to mourn the deaths and blamed local authorities for the accident.

"Children were screaming for help, some were struggling to swim but all of them died in front of our eyes," said Dharaji, a woman who lost her two daughters in the accident.

"They promised to perform well in their exams but they died on their way to school," added Dharaji, who goes by one name.

Television pictures showed grieving parents trying to identify their children from among rows of bodies laid out by the canal.

"My daughter was going for her last examination today," Bhikiben, one of the bereaved mothers, said as the authorities prepared to take her daughter's body to a local hospital. "She was very happy that her holidays were to begin, but now everything has ended for her."

Rescuers used boats and officials said divers were looking for more bodies in the canal.

Many anxious parents, uncertain if their children were on the bus, were also seen rummaging through school bags recovered from the water to see if they belonged to their children.