Deadly bus-truck collision in western India’s Maharashtra state
At least 12 people were killed in India when a bus caught fire after hitting a truck on a highway in western India early on Saturday, an official said.
Another 43 people with serious burns were taken to a hospital in Nashik, a city in Maharashtra state, said police officer Bhagwan Adke.
Most passengers were sleeping when the bus caught fire at about 5am local time and the vehicle was completely burned.
Some people living near the highway reached the spot but could not help as the raging fire engulfed the vehicle. The rescue work started after the fire service and police doused the blaze, Adke said.
Eknath Shinde, the top state elected official, said the cause of the fire is being investigated.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was “anguished by the bus tragedy”.
Nashik is nearly 200 kilometers (120 miles) northeast of Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra.
The incident comes days after at least 25 people were killed after a bus carrying wedding guests veered off the road and fell into a deep gorge in northern India.
The vehicle was traveling along a treacherous mountain highway in Uttarakhand state’s Pauri Garhwal district on Tuesday.
On Sunday a farm tractor trailer carrying Hindu pilgrims overturned and fell into a pond in Ghatampur in northern India’s Kanpur city, killing 26 people, most of them women and children.
More than 110,000 people are killed every year in road accidents across India, according to police. The accidents are caused by reckless driving, poorly maintained roads, and aging vehicles.
Agencies