Bhubaneswar, Jan. 27 -- Serious lapses have surfaced in an accident involving a picnic bus and a truck in Nayagarh's Daspalla area that claimed the lives of three students and left 11 others critically injured.

Pradeep Mohanty, Joint Commissioner of Odisha Transport Department, on Saturday while speaking to OTV attributed the mishap to drunk driving.

As per reports, the bus in which the children were traveling in collided with a truck head-on near Buguda on the Shalabhanga jungle road under Daspalla police limits in the district on Friday night.

According to Mohanty, the truck was driven by another person other than the driver and he was in an inebriated condition.

"Further investigation into the incident is currently underway. Stern ...