At least 25 people were killed and eight others injured after a bus caught fire on a highway in the western Indian state of Maharashtra on Friday night, police said on Saturday.
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“There were between 30 and 35 people on the bus. 25 people died and eight others were injured,” Baburao Mahamuni, a police officer, told AFP.
The bus was en route to the city of Pune after midnight when it hit a pole and overturned, catching the tank on fire, sources said.
Three children were among the dead, a police officer told reporters.
AFP
The injured were taken to a hospital near the crash site, some 400 kilometers east of India’s financial capital, Bombay.
The bus driver, who was himself injured in the accident, has been arrested for questioning along with the controller, Maharashtra Rural Development Minister Girish Mahajan told reporters. According to him, the driver explained that a tire blew out, “but it seems he dozed off.”
“We have to see exactly what happened,” he added. Police said they have launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the tragedy.
“Burned Alive”
The bodies of the victims were burned beyond recognition and forensic identification teams are on their way to help with the identification, Mahajan said.
“Right now, the priority is to identify the bodies and hand them over to their family members,” said Police Commissioner Sunil Kadasane, quoted by local media.
AFP
One of the surviving passengers said he climbed out of the burning vehicle through a window.
“Since the passenger was sitting next to me, we escaped by smashing the rear window,” he told the Press Trust of India (PTI). “But not everyone could do the same.”
AFP
A witness to the accident told PTI that he unsuccessfully tried to rescue passengers trapped on the bus. “We saw people being burned alive,” he said. “The fire was so intense that there was nothing we could do.”
Images released by the press showed the bus on fire, then the charred remains of the overturned vehicle on the highway.
“Deeply saddened by the horrific bus accident in Buldhana,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted. “My thoughts and prayers go out to the families of those who have lost their lives. May the injured have a speedy recovery.”
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde expressed his “deep sorrow” and offered the families of the deceased Rs 500,000 (about US$5,600) in compensation.
Accidents are common on India’s extensive road network, which is poorly maintained and notoriously dangerous.
The leading causes of accidents include speeding, not wearing a helmet – in a country where two-wheeler sales far outnumber cars – and not wearing seatbelts.