Three, including two Nepalis, dead as bus catches fire in India

KATHMANDU: Three people, including two Nepalis, died when a passenger bus caught fire in Uttar Pradesh, India, on Monday night.

“Local police informed us that two Nepalis have died in the incident,” Dr Surendra Thapa, Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of Nepal in New Delhi, told Himal Press over the phone on Tuesday.

According to Hindustan Times, the bus carrying 45 passengers, most of them Nepali nationals, had departed from Sunauli near the Nepal border and was heading to New Delhi. It was hit by a truck on the Phulbaria pass near Balrampur.

Twenty-four others are injured in the incident.

Citing eyewitnesses, the Indian news portal said the speeding truck rammed into the middle of the bus at Phulwaria crossing. “The impact was so severe that the bus skidded nearly 100m and crashed into an electric pole. The pole collapsed onto the bus, causing high-tension wires to collapse, triggering a short circuit,” one of the eyewitnesses told the police, adding, “Within moments, the bus was engulfed in flames, trapping passengers inside. Several people managed to escape by smashing the windowpanes and jumping out”.

The injured are being treated at Bahraich Medical College for treatment.