The well was uncovered but fenced with barbed wire, police said

Three children drowned in Madhya Pradesh's Shajapur district today when their school-van, packed beyond capacity, fell into a well, the police said.

According to Richhoda village locals, where the incident took place, the private school-van was on its way to drop the children back home after school, when the driver, while reversing the van drove it into an open well in front of the school. There were 24 children in the van, the locals added.

The children who died have been identified as Divya and Hardik, who studied in Lower KG, and Ayush, who was in Class 1. "All three were students of the private A Academy Middle School," said sub-divisional officer of Police Umrao Singh Maravi.

Eighteen other children in the van -- a Maruti Omni -- were rescued by villagers and rushed to a hospital, Mr Maravi told news agency PTI.

The driver jumped off before the vehicle plunged into the water and fled, said senior police official Pankaj Shrivastava said. Search is on to arrest him, he added.

The well was uncovered but fenced with barbed wire. The van broke through it and slowly slipped in as children were trapped inside, he said.

The well, 25-feet deep, was almost full to the brim, he added.

Chief Minister Kamal Nath mourned the deaths, terming the incident as "very unfortunate". "My condolences are with the parents of the kids who died. The (surviving) kids should be treated till they recover fully....The incident will be investigated thoroughly, the guilty will be punished and dealt with severely," he tweeted.

(With inputs from PTI)