Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath on Thursday blamed the driver of the school van for the accident in Kushinagar district which killed 13 schoolchildren. The chief minister, who visited the accident spot, alleged that the driver was wearing headphones at the time of the mishap.

“Prima facie it appears to be a mistake of the van driver,” said Adityanath, according to News18. “He had earphones on and there are questions about his age too. An inquiry will be conducted as to why the rules were not followed. Strict action will be taken against those found guilty.”

Chief Public Relations Officer of North Eastern Railway Sanjay Yadav, too, pinned the blame on the van driver. “As per the rules for an unmanned crossing, the driver of the vehicle should have stopped and looked before crossing the railway line,” said Yadav. “Here it seems the van driver tries to cross in a hurry. An inquiry from our side has been ordered.”

The accident took place around 7.10 am at the Dudhi Behpurva crossing, 100 km from Gorakhpur. The children were students of Divine Public School and their van was hit by the Gorakhpur-Siwan passenger train, Business Standard reported.

An official said a “gate mitra” – a volunteer who alerts commuters about approaching trains at unmanned crossings – did try to stop the van.

During his visit to the site of the accident, Adityanath lost his cool at people who were protesting against the deaths in the area and asked them not to do “nautanki” [drama]. “Nautanki band karein aaplog [stop this drama],” he said. Adityanath told the crowd that he had spoken to the Railways minister Piyush Goyal about making unmanned railway crossings safe.

There are hundreds of unmanned railway crossings across the country that are prone to accidents. Nearly 15,000 people die on the railways every year, NDTV reported citing a 2012 government report.

The Indian Railways is trying to eliminate 11 of the 16 unmanned crossings by September and the remaining five March 2020. Railway Board Chairman Ashwani Lohani said people must be careful at these crossings as there was no foolproof solution to the matter.