RAS AL KHAIMAH // Eighteen schoolgirls were injured when their school bus was hit by an 4X4 vehicle, then veered into the path of an oncoming lorry.
The Palestinian driver of the Toyota Fortuner and the drivers of the bus and lorry were also injured in the accident, which happened at 2pm on Sunday near the Al Kharran roundabout in Al Salehieh.
Lt Col Ahmad Alnqbi, head of Ras Al Khaimah Police’s awareness and traffic media department, said: “A Palestinian driver who had parked his Toyota Fortuner on the hard shoulder entered the road abruptly and without taking caution, then hit a school bus making the bus veer to the opposite lane and hit an oncoming truck.”
The bus passengers, who were all between the ages of 16 and 18, were pupils at Al Hamhan School in RAK.
They were taken to Saqr Hospital for treatment, where nine of them remained overnight after receiving minor head injuries.
Three others needed treatment for broken arms, while another had a severe cut in her thigh.
The lorry driver sustained serious injuries to his chest and was in the hospital’s intensive-care unit on Monday.
The bus driver and the Toyota driver both suffered minor injuries and were released from hospital.
newsdesk@thenational.ae
