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 say
Twenty-five passengers were charred to death as the bus they were travelling in caught fire after hitting a divider following a tyre burst on the Samruddhi Expressway in Maharashtra’s Buldhana district in the wee hours of Saturday, police said.
The private bus was on its way from Nagpur to Pune when it rammed into a divider around 1.30 am at Pimpalkhuta village near Sindkhedraja in Buldhana, around 134 km from here, they said.Eight others, including the bus driver and its cleaner, survived the tragedy as they managed to come out of the burning vehicle through broken windows, the police said, adding that the driver was being interrogated and the process of arresting him was under way.
Superintendent of Police Sunil Kadasne said, “There were 33 passengers in the bus, of whom 25 were charred to death. The other eight passengers were taken to a nearby hospital and are safe.”
As per the preliminary information, a tyre of the bus burst and the vehicle hit a pole before colliding with a divider and catching fire, he said.
The bus belonging to Vidarbha Travels had left Nagpur for Pune at 4 pm on Friday. It stopped at Karanja in Yavatmal district for dinner but met with the accident sometime after it resumed the journey, the police said.
“After hitting the divider, the bus fell on its right side with the entry/exit door of the bus facing the sky. Within minutes, the vehicle caught fire. Some of the
passengers were able to come out of the broken windows from the rear side,” a senior police official from Buldhana said.
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.
