Cuddalore (Tamil Nadu), July 8 - Two students (a 12-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl) died when a passenger train collided with a school van at a railway crossing in Semangupam this morning. The impact of the train was so severe that the school van fell off. The loco pilot somehow managed to stop the train. The railway has suspended the gatekeeper posted at the railway crossing for violating safety rules.
The railway has announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each for the kin of the deceased, Rs 2.5 lakh for the seriously injured and Rs 50,000 each for the minor injured. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin expressed grief over the death of the students in the accident and announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the kin of the victims. 
Senior police officers who reached the spot took the injured to the government hospital. After the accident, the angry people surrounded the gatekeeper, but SP Jai Kumar who reached the spot intervened and saved him. The school van was badly damaged in the accident.