Nine dead as sleeper bus catches fire on Yamuna Expressway; driver and conductor arrested
Nine passengers, including a woman, were killed when a sleeper bus caught fire on the Yamuna Expressway in the Jewar area of Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddh Nagar district late on Wednesday night, police said.
The bus, carrying an estimated 35 to 40 people, was travelling from Delhi to Mahua in Jhansi district when the fire broke out around 11 p.m. near the 33-km marker of the expressway. A distress call was made and eight to ten fire tenders were rushed to the spot. Fire and rescue personnel worked through the night to bring the blaze under control and to evacuate those who could still be reached.
Jewar Inspector Ajay Kumar Singh said several passengers managed to escape and later returned to their homes. The bodies of those who could not get out were taken to Kailash Hospital, where they were declared dead and sent for postmortem examination.
The driver and conductor of the bus have been arrested, and Jewar police have registered a case against them under provisions relating to culpable homicide. Police said a preliminary investigation indicated that a short circuit in the air-conditioning system may have started the fire. The arrests and charges are part of an ongoing investigation, and those accused are entitled to the presumption of innocence unless a court holds otherwise.
Rinki Rajput, a passenger who survived, said she was asleep when someone banged on the bus door and woke her. "I did not pick up any of my belongings; I did not even put on my shoes. I just grabbed my phone and stepped out," she said.
She described passengers pushing and shoving as they tried to escape through the smoke. "It was so smoky that nothing was visible. People were suffocating inside. Very few managed to escape — only those who could push their way out amidst the shoving. I was pushed around, and someone eventually pulled me out. I do not remember anything else after that," she said.
Ms Rajput said several passengers appeared to have been trapped behind her. "There were quite a few people behind me who probably could not make it out, as I myself got out quite late. The scene was completely chaotic, and getting out was extremely difficult," she said.
Another passenger said he was woken after the fire had already spread. "There was smoke everywhere. We all scrambled to get out. It was not easy to escape; there was a lot of smoke. We somehow managed to get out in a state of panic. The bus was packed with passengers," he said.
Investigators are examining how the fire started, the condition of the bus, and whether any safety or operational lapses contributed to the deaths. The sequence of events, and the circumstances in which the nine passengers became trapped, form part of the inquiry.
The Yamuna Expressway is a 165-km, six-lane, access-controlled road linking Greater Noida with Agra, and is a busy route for overnight buses. Fires in passenger buses have occurred repeatedly in India and often raise questions about emergency exits, the availability of fire extinguishers, electrical maintenance and whether vehicles are running with valid fitness certificates. Under the Motor Vehicles Act and the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, passenger vehicles are required to have working emergency exits, fire extinguishers and periodic fitness certification.
Road safety experts note that smoke, rather than flames, is often the immediate cause of death in bus fires, leaving passengers only seconds to reach an exit. They argue that keeping emergency exits unobstructed and training crew members in evacuation can reduce casualties.
Rescue operations were completed by morning, officials said. Further details are awaited as the investigation proceeds.
