Jaipur | Eight people were killed and 24 injured after a bus rammed into a truck and caught fire on the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway in Rajasthan's Dausa district early Wednesday, police said.
The accident occurred near Dhanawda in the Kolwa police station area.
Dausa SP Piyush Dixit told PTI that five persons were burnt alive, two died on the spot due to severe head injuries, while one succumbed to burn injuries at a hospital.
"The bus belonging to Hans Travels was heading to Indore from Rishikesh when it collided with a truck moving ahead of it on the expressway," the SP said.
The impact of the collision triggered a fire in both vehicles, causing panic among the passengers.
The injured have been shifted to the district hospital in Dausa, where their condition is stated to be stable, a doctor at the facility told PTI Videos, confirming that eight bodies were received in the wee hours of Wednesday.
A woman from Indore told PTI Videos at the hospital, "We were returning home after visiting the Vaishno Devi temple in J-K when the bus caught fire after hitting a truck moving ahead. My daughter suffered injuries in the crash while my husband is still missing." Another victim told PTI, "Me, my son and my wife were sleeping when the bus suddenly crashed into a truck moving ahead of it. We were seated just behind the driver, and I don't know if he dozed off.
"The impact threw my wife out of the window, and she got stuck on the side of the bus that soon caught fire. She was burnt alive in front of my eyes." One of the two persons who died of head injuries has been identified as Dharmendra, and the identities of the other deceased are being ascertained, Additional SP Shankar Lal said.
Firemen, police and the local administration carried out a rescue operation after bringing the flames under control, Lal said.
Dausa MP Murari Lal Meena, who reached the spot, told PTI Videos, "I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured, and peace for the departed souls. Eight charred bodies have been shifted to the district hospital, and efforts are underway to identify them. The entire administration is working to help the affected families?"
