Grieving families gathered at a post-mortem house in Sector 94 in Noida on Friday, struggling to identify loved ones killed when a sleeper bus caught fire on the Yamuna Expressway, with police identifying six of the nine deceased so far.
The bus, travelling from Kashmere Gate in Delhi to Mahoba in Uttar Pradesh, caught fire around 11.20 pm on Wednesday near the 33-km milestone of the expressway, killing nine passengers, officials said.
At the Sector 94 post-mortem house, relatives waited anxiously as the charred condition of the bodies made identification difficult.
Among those at the mortuary was Sarvagya, son of Rekha Bhardwaj, an injured passenger who survived the incident. Her husband, Devendra Sahay Bhardwaj, died in the fire.
Sarvagya told news agency PTI that his father, a retired university teacher from Hisar, Haryana, and his mother were travelling to Mahoba to attend his grandmother’s last rites.
Siblings Shivam and Nancy also spent hours at the mortuary before identifying the bodies of their mother and brother after considerable difficulty. They were seen consoling each other while waiting to complete the formalities.
In another case, Ayushi, the granddaughter of one of the deceased, identified the body with the help of an anklet gifted by her son, highlighting the difficulty families faced due to the extensive burns.
Police have identified six victims as Shruti Rawat (31), a resident of Chhatarpur in Madhya Pradesh; Saroj Gupta (52) and Mayank Gupta (28), both from Mughalpuria Bazar in Rath, Hamirpur; Devendra Sahay Bhardwaj (60) of Chandra Nagar village in Hisar, Haryana; Har Sharan Gupta (55) of Balaji Palace in Rajendra Nagar under Orai police station in Jalaun district; and Usha Devi (65) of Main Road, Muskura, Hamirpur.
Police have arrested two drivers and a conductor in connection with the incident. The drivers were identified as Pawan and Yogesh Dixit, both from Kanpur Dehat, while the conductor was identified as Rohit, also from Kanpur Dehat.
During interrogation, the accused told police that they were travelling from Kashmere Gate to Mahoba on Wednesday night. They allegedly abandoned the bus and fled after it suddenly caught fire.
An FIR has been registered under BNS Sections 281 (rash driving), 125(b) (endangering life) and 105 (culpable homicide), among other provisions, police said.
Rajesh Mohan, Public Transport Officer with the Gautam Buddh Nagar Regional Transport Office, told PTI that the bus, bearing registration number BR32PA8647, had accumulated fines totalling Rs 1.75 lakh through 19 challans.
The bus is operated by Raj Kalpana Travel Agency of Madhya Pradesh but is registered in Madhubani, Bihar, the official said.
Additional District Magistrate Ajeet Kumar Singh had said on Thursday that the fire was caused by a short circuit and that 35 passengers were onboard, of whom nine died.
The injured passengers were given first aid before being taken to Mahoba in a special vehicle, Singh said