25 bus passengers charred to death after vehicle catches fire on Samruddhi Expressway in Maharashtra

Mumbai: Twenty five bus passengers were charred to death after the vehicle caught fire on the Samruddhi Expressway in Maharashtra’s Buldhana district on Saturday, police said.

The private travels bus was on way from Nagpur to Pune when it rammed into a divider around 1.30 am near Sindkhedraja in Buldhana district, police said.

Buldhana SP Sunil Kadasne told that as per preliminary information, a bus tyre burst and the vehicle hit a pole, collided with a divider and caught fire.

Of the 33 passengers in the bus, 25 were charred to death, the official said. The remaining eight passengers have been rushed to nearby hospital and are safe, he added.

One of the survivors of the ill-fated bus said he and a few others managed to come out of the burning vehicle by breaking its rear window.

"A tyre of the bus burst and the vehicle caught fire immediately. The blaze spread in no time. The passenger seated next to me and I managed to escape by breaking the rear window," the survivor said, The survivor said that after the accident, teams of police and fire brigade reached the site quickly.

A local resident said four to five passengers managed to escape by breaking one window of the bus. But not everyone could do it.

The people who could come out of the bus later told us that they sought help from other vehicles on the highway, but nobody stopped.

"Many accidents take place on this route at Pimpalkhuta. We were called for help and when we went there, we saw the horrible situation. The tyres had fallen apart," the local resident said.

"People inside were trying to break the windows. We saw people getting burnt alive...The fire was so intense that we could not do anything. We were in tears. Had the vehicles passing by the highway stopped for help, more lives could have been saved," said a local resident.

Amit Shah express his grief

Union Home Minister Amit Shah expressed his grief over the tragic bus accident.

"The road accident in Maharashtra's Buldhana district is heartbreaking. In this hour of grief, my thoughts are with the families of those who lost their lives in this tragic accident. "Quick treatment is being provided to the injured by the administration. I pray to God for the speedy recovery of those injured," Shah tweeted in Hindi.

Inputs from PTI