24 dead, 15 hurt as bus catches fire after colliding with truck
BAREILLY: At least 24 people were charred to death and 15 others injured when a passenger bus caught fire after colliding with a truck on National Highway 24 in Bareilly at around 1 am on Monday. The accident occurred about 14 km south of Bareilly district headquarters.
The injured were rushed to a private hospital. Four of them are said to be in a critical state. One of the four was shifted to Lucknow after his condition deteriorated.
The Uttar Pradesh State Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) bus was going from New Delhi to Gonda when the mishap happened.
Officials said 41 passengers, including two drivers and a conductor, were in the bus at the time of the accident.
PM Narendra Modi and chief minister Yogi Adityanath condoled the loss of lives in the accident.
The UP CM announced a compensation of ₹2 lakh for the kin of the dead and ₹50,000 for those injured. The Prime Minister also announced an ex-gratia of ₹2 lakh for the next of kin of the dead and ₹50,000 for the injured. The money will be sourced from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF).
UP finance minister Rajesh Agarwal, transport minister Swatantra Dev Singh and law minister Brajesh Pathak visited Bareilly to help in relief and rescue work. Agarwal is a lawmaker from Bareilly (Cantt). MLA from Bareilly (city) Arun Kumar also met the injured.
Senior superintendent of police, Bareilly, Joginder Kumar said while the bus was crossing an intersection, a truck coming from Shahjahanpur side collided with the bus.
“The fuel tank of the bus got damaged in the accident and diesel started leaking, which possibly triggered a fire,” the officer added. The intersection where the accident took place had no streetlights and speed breakers. The road receives traffic from Pilibhit, Shahjahanpur and Bareilly. “We took 50 litres of fuel from a workshop at Bareilly,” said Chandrashkhar Shukla, a driver of the bus. Shukla saved his life by jumping from a window. Sunder Lal Yadav, the other driver of the bus, is missing from the spot. “I heard a deafening sound and moments later the bus caught fire. There was fire all around and flames were touching the roof,” said Rohit Tiwari, 21, who sustained injuries in the accident.
Most of the passengers rushed towards the exit door. The emergency door was above the fuel tank and was pushed inwards after the accident. “A lot of people near the exit got caught in the flames. I managed to jump out of a window,” Rohit added.
A police response vehicle reached the site at around 1:30 am. The ‘Dial 100’ team alerted the fire department and two fire tenders reached the spot by 2:15 am which took over two hours to douse the flames.
“About 12 bodies were piled near the exit gate while a few more were found near the fuel tank,” said sub-inspector Gurudev Singh. The truck driver, Sakib, was later arrested by a police team.
Ramdhan Singh, had been slogging for the past more than six months to fund the marriage of his eldest sister. But the bus accident abruptly cut short all his efforts, just two days before the scheduled marriage.
Ramdhan escaped with a broken leg and an injured back. But six of his relatives, including his grandparents and a 12-year-old cousin died. “Main bachana cha hta tha par mera per hi nahi cha la, bas chilla ke reh gaya (I wanted to save them but I couldn’t move my leg. I just cried)” remembered Ramdhan. “I don’t know what happened to them. he added. “We were bringing, clothes for the function and other things for the wedding. We also had around R20,000 cash all of which was left behind in the bus,” he said.
While Ramdhan lost six of his kin, Masood Ahmed, 32, became part of six families due to the mishap. A private employee in Delhi, Masood was also returning to Gonda to attend a marriage. But he was travelling alone.
“I was awake and saw the truck approaching the bus and clutched my seat to brace for the impact. After the collision I was the first one to jump out,” Masood said. Once outside, he decided to help others and successfully pulled out at least six people including conductor Akhtar Aziz Farooqi. “By the grace of God Massood bhai was present, he saved my uncle,” said a passenger Saqib Akhtar’s nephew. “He is family to us now,” he added.
12-YR-OLD SAVES GRAND FATHER
Amit Shukla 12, who was travelling to his village in Balrampur saved his own life and that of his grandfather by his quick wit. When the accident occurred, his grandfather, like others, tried to make for the exit which was already congested. But Amit told him to jump out of the window. “I would have died had I gone to the exit door,” said the grandfather.