UNNAO: Five people, including two children, were killed and eight others injured after a private sleeper bus collided with a car and plunged off the Agra–Lucknow Expressway in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao district on Wednesday, police said.
The accident took place around 4.30 am near Devkhari village under the Bangarmau police station area at kilometre marker 230 of the expressway.
According to police, the bus, travelling from Haryana to Bihar, collided head-on with an Ertiga car coming from the opposite direction. The impact caused the bus driver to lose control, after which the vehicle broke through the expressway barrier and fell onto the road below. The car was extensively damaged.
Five occupants of the car, identified as Dhunmun (60), Anju (40), Divya (6), Amrita (13) and driver Vinod (45), died on the spot, police said.
Four other car passengers and four bus passengers sustained injuries and were taken to hospital for treatment.
Bangarmau Circle Officer Harsh Modi said preliminary findings suggest the bus driver may have dozed off, though the exact cause of the crash is under investigation.
District Magistrate Ghanshyam Meena and Superintendent of Police Jai Prakash Singh visited the site and directed officials to carry out rescue and relief operations.
(with inputs from PTI)