Kanpur: A major accident was avoided on Agra-Lucknow Expressway at 3 am on Saturday. A sleeper bus going from Bahraich to Rajasthan carrying passengers for Khatu Shyam and Balaji darshan caught fire. 13 people got burnt. 35 passengers were injured in the stampede that broke out after the incident.
The incident took place in Araul area of Bilhaur, Kanpur. The fire kept burning in the bus for about an hour. By the time the fire brigade team reached the bus, it was completely burnt. The injured were admitted to the Government Medical College. Araul police station in-charge Akhilesh Pal said that the fire started due to short circuit.
There were two drivers and a conductor in the bus. They ran away. Kallu Kumar, Pawan Kumar, Neeraj Mishra and Krishna Kumar Mishra, residents of Nevada village of Ramgaon police station area of Bahraich, had booked a sleeper bus of New Deluxe Transport on rent. Along with this, 60 people from nearby villages Mirzapur, Nevada and Ramgaon area also boarded the bus.
All were going from Bahraich to Rajasthan on Friday evening to have darshan of Baba Khatu Shyam and Balaji for five days. Krishna Kumar, who was sitting in the front of the bus at the time of the incident, said that smoke started filling the bus near Araul in Bilhaur at 3 am on Saturday. When he raised an alarm, flames started coming out.
All the passengers were sleeping at the time of the incident; a stampede broke out as soon as they came to know about the fire. 13 people got burnt while trying to save each other and take out the luggage from the bus. 35 people were injured in the stampede. After 20 minutes the fire brigade arrived and extinguished the fire. The police took the burnt people to the Government Medical College where all were given first aid. Tirwa in-charge Inspector Vijay Singh said that after the condition improved, all the injured returned to Bahraich.