NEW DELHI: In a tragic incident early Saturday morning, at least nine people, including six women, were burned alive when a bus full of devotees from Ludhiana and Hoshiarpur in Punjab caught fire on the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway near Tauru in Nuh district, Haryana. The incident occurred around 2 am as the bus was returning from a pilgrimage to Ujjan and Mathura-Vrindavan.
According to police sources, approximately 60 people were on the bus, all of whom were relatives. As the bus was moving, it suddenly caught fire. Locals, who noticed the flames, immediately informed the police and fire brigade. Despite their swift response, by the time the fire was brought under control, eight passengers had already perished in the flames.
One more succumbed to injuries later, bringing the total death toll to nine. Fifteen others sustained burns and were rushed to the hospital, where they are reported to be in stable condition.
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Eyewitnesses described the harrowing moments as they tried to stop the bus. One local described how they tried to warn the driver by pursuing the burning bus on a motorcycle. “The bus continued to move despite our calls for the driver to halt. By the time we managed to inform the driver, the fire had spread inside the bus,” the eyewitness told the media.
Local residents, along with the police, made desperate efforts to rescue passengers trapped inside the bus. “We ran behind the bus and broke the windows to pull out as many people as we could before the fire grew too intense,” said a local involved in the rescue operation. However, many people criticized the response time of the fire brigade, claiming that it took them three hours to arrive after the initial calls for help.
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The cause of the fire is yet to be determined. Police are conducting an initial probe to understand what led to this catastrophic accident. The bus was part of a pilgrimage group, and the loss has deeply affected the communities of Ludhiana and Hoshiarpur, from where the victims hailed.
This tragic incident has raised concerns about the safety measures on buses and the efficiency of emergency response services. Authorities are under pressure to investigate the cause of the fire thoroughly and implement necessary measures to prevent such tragedies in the future.