Noida: Nine passengers were charred to death inside an air-conditioned sleeper coach that caught fire on Yamuna Expressway near Jewar late Wednesday night, making it one of the worst bus accidents to happen in Delhi-NCR. In May 2024, a fire that broke out inside an AC bus on KMP Expressway in Nuh had claimed nine lives as well.Wednesday night’s fire broke out on a Raj Kalpana Travels long-distance bus (BR32PA/864) that had departed from Kashmere Gate in Delhi and was headed to Mahoba in Bundelkhand around 11.30pm near the 33km milestone. More lives would have been lost had passengers from another bus not come to their aid, survivors TOI spoke to on Thursday morning said. They said they had sensed a strong burning smell from the cabin and asked the driver and attendant about it, only to be told it was nothing unusual.A police complaint lodged by a passenger, Suneel Kumar, alleged the driver and conductor were smoking bidis and cigarettes in the cabin. Kumar also claimed the attendant told the passengers, “die if you want to die but we won’t stop”.The cause of the fire is under investigation. Besides a cigarette flare, a short circuit or a spark in the AC system are also likely triggers. Whichever the source, it likely came into contact with the engine’s lubricant oil, which caused the fire to spread rapidly, charring the entire bus. There were 35 passengers on board at the time, 26 of whom managed to get out in a mad scramble towards the door. The driver and attendant got out too.According to survivors, the flame erupted near the driver’s seat. By the time the bus pulled over, smoke had filled the cabin and left passengers gasping for breath in the absence of ventilation, with the AC conking out. The two-deck sleeper made escape more difficult. Those on the upper deck had to climb down and move through the narrow aisle that was already filled with fellow passengers trying to make their way out. Those who could not make it ran out of time.
The double-decker seats and narrow aisle are likely to have made escape difficult
Gokul, a Mahoba resident who was in the front row of the upper deck, said he noticed flames near the dashboard beside the driver. “Within 30 seconds, the conductor frantically shouted there was a fire and everyone must leave the vehicle. Within no time, there was smoke all over,” he added.Passengers, Gokul said, pushed towards the only exit in the front. Long-distance buses have an emergency exit and fire extinguishers but passengers are rarely informed about them or given instruction before a bus departs on how to deal with a fire. The staff of this bus hadn’t either. Those trapped inside began shouting and banging on the glass windows for help. People from another bus stopped nearby and used iron rods to break the windows, helping some escape.“Some of us managed to rush out after the bus stopped. But some were trapped inside. We lost our bags, phones and other belongings, including luggage in the compartment and on the roof,” Suneel said.A team of police and firefighters found nine bodies inside the bus after the flames were doused. A senior officer involved in the rescue said three bodies were found on seats and six in the aisle, indicating they had tried to leave but choked from fumes. The rescued passengers were taken to Kailash Hospital in Jewar for treatment.Citing autopsy reports, officials said the deaths resulted from burns or suffocation. Identification of the victims was difficult because the bodies were badly charred. By Thursday evening, six had been identified. They were Shruti Rawat of Chhatarpur in Madhya Pradesh; Saroj Gupta (52), Mayank Gupta (28) and Usha Devi (65) of Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh; Devendra Sahay Bhardwaj (60) of Hisar in Haryana; and Har Sharan Gupta (55) of Jalaun, UP.Their remains were handed over to their families. The other three autopsies are scheduled for Friday. Chief fire officer Pradeep Kumar Chaubey said passersby informed them about the bus in flames and fire services had reached the spot eight minutes after the alert. ADM Ajeet Kumar Singh said the fire appeared to have been caused by a short circuit. Final reports are awaited, with passengers’ allegations of smoking by the driver and attendant in the driver’s cabin opening another line of investigation.
Charred remains of the sleeper bus
Bus driver Pawan Kumar, attendant Rohit and Yogesh Dixit, a spare driver, were detained for questioning. An FIR was registered under BNS sections 281 (rash driving or riding on a public way), 125(b) (act endangering life or personal safety of others), 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 351(3) (criminal intimidation).“Action will be taken according to the evidence that emerges,” an officer said.UP govt announced Rs 2 lakh each for the families of the victims. PM Modi separately announced Rs 2 lakh for each deceased person’s next of kin and Rs 50,000 for each injured passenger.Bus had 60 challansThe sleeper bus that caught fire had more than 60 traffic fines – 20 of them, amounting to Rs 1.7 lakh, still unpaid – according to RTO records. The latest of them was in Delhi on Aug 19, when the vehicle was challaned Rs 18,500 for carrying goods on top of a stage or contract carriage. Other records showed violations involving speeding, parking, an underage driver, retrofitting, fuel changes and permits.DCP (traffic central) K Ramesh said the bus had nine challans in Delhi, mostly for speeding and improper parking, and a valid permit till Oct 26. He clarified that there was no rule to impound a vehicle solely for unpaid challans. Serious violations, such as no permit or a driver lacking five years’ experience, could, however, lead to impounding, he added.
