At least nine people were killed and dozens injured after a sleeper bus caught fire on the Yamuna Expressway in Greater Noida late on Wednesday night, with passengers jumping through windows to escape amid thick smoke and panic.
The bus, belonging to Raj Kalpana Travels, was travelling from Delhi to Mahoba in Uttar Pradesh carrying around 35 passengers when the fire broke out near Dayanatpur village.
The driver stopped the vehicle on the side of the expressway after noticing the blaze, but flames spread rapidly through the bus, trapping several passengers inside.
Among those killed were reportedly women, elderly passengers and a child with disabilities. Deaths were confirmed at around 3:30 a.m., and the injured were taken to a nearby Kailash Hospital for treatment.
A passenger told ANI, "When I was sleeping, someone woke me up and told me that the bus had caught fire, and we all rushed in panic to get out. Getting out from there wasn't easy; there was a lot of smoke. Amid the panic, we somehow managed to escape. The bus was packed with passengers."
Another survivor described a more chaotic scene, saying she was asleep when someone banged on the door and she stepped out without her belongings or shoes amid heavy shoving.
"It was completely filled with smoke; the scene was chaotic, and getting out was extremely difficult," she said, adding that "very few managed to escape" and that people behind her in the bus "probably couldn't make it out."
Firefighters brought the blaze under control after nearly 30 minutes, following which traffic movement on the expressway was restored.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath took stock of the situation and expressed his condolences to the families of those who died. He also directed officials to ensure proper treatment for those injured.
The exact cause of the fire has not yet been established, and police are investigating how it started and spread so quickly.
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