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Tyre burst, hitting road divider: How Maharashtra bus caught fire killing 25
Buldhana accident: The owner of the bus said the driver was experienced and all the documentation of the bus was fine.
The bus which caught fire charring at least 25 passengers to death on the Samrudhhi-Mahamarg Expressway in Buldhana had no fault and was bought in 2020; the driver too was experienced, owner of the bus Virendra Darna said, First, there was a tyre burst after which the bus hit a road divider and overturned. Then the diesel tank of the bus caught fire. The bus was travelling from Maharashtra's Yavatmal to Pune and met with the fatal accident at around 1.30am when most of the passengers were sleeping.
Many passengers could not come out and instantly got charred. Some people managed t come out and escape death. Shocking visuals of the bus burning have appeared on social media.
"This is our family bus. We bought it in January 2020. Then the bus was off-road for a year during the lockdown. All documentation of the bus is fine. The driver is also experienced. What we got to know is that there was a tyre burst following which the car hit the divider and the inflammable articles in the bus caught fire," the owner of the bus said.
Advocate Sandip Mehtre, a local from Pimple Khuta Village, where the accident took place said when the local people reached the spot, the situation was terrible; passengers were lying trapped inside, burning alive. The fire was so dangerous that it was not possible for the locals to rescue, the eye witness said.
A total of eight passengers, inlcuding the bus driver and the cleaner, managed to escape the tragegy. Both of them have been taken int custody, Maharashtra minister Girish Mahajan said.
The Vidarbha Travels bus left Nagpur for Pune at 4pm on Friday. It took a dinner break at Karanja in Yavatmal. The accident took place soon after the bus resumed its journey.
As the bus hit a divider after its tyre burst, it fell on the right side with the gates facing the sky, leaving the passengers at lurch. Soon the vehicle caught fire, police said. Those who escaped the mishap came out of the bus from the rear widows.
(With inputs from Yogesh Joshi)
