22 killed after bus collides with lorry in Uttar Pradesh

The bus is said to have caught fire immediately after it collided with the truck.

At least 22 people were charred to death and several others were injured after a passenger bus caught fire following a collision with a truck on National Highway 24 in Bareilly at around 1 am on Monday night. The injured are said to be in a critical state. The passenger bus is reported to be of Delhi Roadways and was headed to Gonda in central Uttar Pradesh.

The accident occurred on an under-construction stretch of the highway between Bareilly and Shahjahanpur. It is reported that the the bus driver was reportedly driving on the wrong side of the road.

The bus is said to have caught fire immediately after it collided with the truck. Passengers had no time to evacuate as result of which the casualty rate was very high. Most passengers were asleep when the accident occurred, while some managed to escape through the windows.

Reacting to the incident, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday condoled the loss of lives in a bus accident and sanctioned Rs 2 lakh each to the kin of those killed. He also announced Rs 50,000 for each of those injured.

"The bus accident in UP's Bareilly is heart-rending. I condole the loss of lives. I pray that those injured recover at the earliest," Modi said in his message. He sanctioned the ex-gratia relief from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund, the PMO said.

OneIndia News