MEERUT, Aug. 1 -- A head-on collision between a mini truck and a school van left a 10-year-old girl dead and five other children injured on Thursday morning. The accident occurred on the Meerut-Karnal highway near the Kankerkheda police station area around 7am when the van was ferrying nine students from the Army School in Meerut Cantonment. The impact was so severe that the van was mangled. The screams of terrified children drew locals to the spot, who rushed to rescue the injured even before the police arrived. All the injured were taken to nearby hospitals, and one critically injured girl was referred to Delhi's RR Hospital for advanced care. According to Jagbir Sirohi, a resident of Ganpati Vihar, Gali No. 3, the deceased girl, Arya Sirohi, was his granddaughter. "Like every day, she had left for school. But she never returned. Earlier, the school used to send a bus, but now there's no school transport. So the children rely on private vans," he said. Jagbir revealed that the condition of the van was extremely poor. It had a CNG cylinder installed, over which a wooden plank was placed for children to sit. Arya's elder sister, Anshika, blamed the van driver. "It's completely his fault. Why else would he run away after the crash? He stuffs too many children into the van and says, 'adjust kar lo'." An eyewitness, Anuj Sharma, said the mini truck was coming at a high speed from Meerut side and rammed into the van. "We heard children screaming and ran to help. We managed to pull them out before the police came," he said. Amit Malik, a resident of Mohammadpur, said both his daughters were in the van. "My elder daughter Ananya has been referred to RR Hospital in Delhi. My younger one, Ojaswi, is undergoing treatment at the military hospital in Meerut," he said, visibly distraught. Surendra Singh Rawal, a neighbour, pointed to a larger issue. "Drivers on the highway don't care. They speed and don't look back. The police must check how many kids are packed into one van. Authorities and school managements need to act. If proper checks were in place, this tragedy could have been avoided." Meerut district magistrate VK Singh confirmed that the accident took place when the van was crossing Nangla Taasi village on the highway and collided with a mini truck. "One child has died. The rest are out of danger and are being treated at the military hospital," he said....