Police Critical After Student Hurt In Torch Relay

OLYMPICS-TORCH-ACCIDENT

Police Critical Of Teachers After Student Hurt In Torch Relay

Auckland, June 7 NZPA - Police today criticised teachers for failing to properly control their students after a 17-year-old student in the Olympic torch convoy was run over by a bus.

The girl is in Auckland's Middlemore Hospital with serious leg injuries after she slipped and fell under the wheels of a bus in suburban Mangere at 12.45pm today.

Police said the girl received serious lower leg injuries when she slipped and fell under the bus which was picking up runners who had run in the relay. ``It seems there were a number of schoolchildren banging on the retrieval bus that was collecting Olympic torch runners who had already run when the accident occurred,'' Inspector Derek Davison said today.

Mr Davison said schoolchildren along the route were banging on the side of the bus as it passed them.

``Kids from schools were stepping out on the road, yahooing, waving their arms around. They seemed to be pretty unruly and it seemed this occurred in that context.

``There were some teachers there but they didn't seem to have a lot of control,'' he said.

Police had yet to determine if the girl slipped or if she was pushed.

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