CHANDIGARH: A 28-year old woman and her 5-year old daughter died were going to their village in Uttar Pradesh to celebrate Diwali and 29 people suffered burns when a moving double-decker sleeper bus caught fire on the Delhi-Gurugram Expressway on Wednesday night.
The incident took place on the main expressway connecting Delhi and Jaipur, near the Jharsa flyover. The bus driver and his helper have been identified and efforts are on to nab them. It is alleged that some prohibited items were kept in the storage unit of the bus which caught fire, as unconfirmed reports that there was a gas cylinder in the bus.
Of the total injured, 11 were admitted to a civil hospital from where Mithlesh and Harish were referred to Safdarjung hospital of Delhi in critical condition. The deceased were identified as Maya (28) and her daughter Deepali (5). Both along with the family were going to their village in Hamirpur district in Uttar Pradesh to celebrate Diwali. The bodies to the kin were handed to the family after the post-mortem on Thursday.
Following the complaint by the woman’s husband, a case was registered against an unknown person under section 304-A (death due to negligence) at Sector 40 police station of Gurugram. Dinesh Kumar who works as a labourer in the Dighal area in his complaint, said, “We boarded the bus from sector 12 A chowk of Gurugram at 8 pm about 30 minutes later smoke started coming out from the back of the vehicle and it caught fire and soon it caught fire. Some of us managed to escape while many others received burns. My wife Maya and daughter Deepali were burnt to death.’’
Deputy Director of the Fire Department Gulshan Kalra said that three fire tenders were rushed to the spot. “By the time the fire was brought under control, two passengers were charred to death. Some other passengers sustained burn injuries,’’ he said.
Police find ‘prohibited items’ in the bus
The bus driver and his helper have been identified and efforts are on to nab them. It is alleged that some prohibited items were kept in the storage unit of the bus which caught fire, as unconfirmed reports that there was a gas cylinder in the bus