At 1:10 A.M., a bus crashed into a truck at the Bareilly bypass on National Highway 24 in Uttar Pradesh. The accident killed 22 people and injured 19. The bodies of the victims were charred as the bus caught fire after the collision. The 19 injured were rushed to a district hospital. Reports have come in that among the injured 6 are in a very serious condition.
The authorities have not been able to identify any of the dead bodies due to the impact of the fire.
Dr. Shailesh Ranjan from the Bareilly district hospital said, “Around 5:45 A.M., we received 22 dead bodies from the bus accident site. The bodies are charred beyond recognition. It is difficult to even determine the gender of the people.”
The bus was travelling from New Delhi to Gonda district carrying 38 passengers including two drivers and a conductor.
The truck coming from the opposite direction was coming from Shahjahanpur district and the driver of the truck has absconded.
The fire set off after the collision burst the diesel tank on the bus. The fire brigade took around 90 minutes to reach the spot.
S.K. Bhagat, Senior police officer reported, “The truck and the bus both caught fire after the collision. Fire engines reached as soon as possible but the flames were so high that it took us a lot of effort to actually douse the flames and reach inside.”
The bus was from the Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave their condolences over Twitter. Modi also announced a compensation from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund of Rs. 2 lakhs for the family of the deceased and Rs. 50,000 to the injured.
