At least 22 people died after a bus and a truck collided and caught fire on National Highway 24 in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly district at 1 am on Monday, ANI reported. The injured have been taken to nearby hospitals.
The state transport bus was headed to Gonda depot in Uttar Pradesh from New Delhi when the accident took place on an under-construction area of the highway, reported Hindustan Times. The collision occurred as the bus driver was speeding past a junction, the report added.
Both vehicles caught fire after the diesel tank of the bus burst following the collision. It took more than 90 minutes for fire engines to reach the spot, NDTV reported. “Fire engines reached as soon as possible but the flames were so high that it took us a lot of effort to douse the flames,” senior police official SK Bhagat told the news channel.
Most passengers were asleep when the accident happened, however, some did manage to escape. “We have recovered charred remains of around 10 passengers,” Joginder Kumar, senior superintendent of police, Bareilly, told Hindustan Times.
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