Global Courant
The bus overturned and its fuel tank exploded, in the state of Maharashtra. There are seven wounded.
At least 26 dead, including three children, and seven injured is the tragic toll left by a bus that crashed and caught fire early Saturday morning in the western Indian state of Maharashtra.
According to the local press, the accident occurred on a road in the Buldhana district at around 1:30 a.m., when a bus tire blew out, causing it to hit a highway divider and overturn. The blow caused the fuel tank to explode, sparking the flames, police spokesman Baburao Mahamuni said.
“There were 33 people on the bus, of whom 26 people died and seven are injured,” Mahamuni explained in dialogue with the AFP news agency. The injured, including the driver, were sent to a nearby hospital.
Tragedy in India: among the fatalities there are three children.
Among the dead are three children, according to a police officer told the press.
“The priority right now is to identify the bodies and return them to their families,” Superintendent Sunil Kadasane said.
Images began to circulate on social networks where the bus engulfed in flames can be seen, as well as later moments in which the remains of the vehicle were burned.
Tragedy in India: seven injured were taken to hospitals.
“Deeply saddened by the bus accident,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on his official Twitter account.
For his part, Maharastra State Chief Minister Eknath Shinde also expressed his condolences and promised compensation of Rs 500,000 ($6,100) to the families of the victims.
Fatal accidents are common on India’s vast network of dangerous and poorly maintained roads. The main causes are excessive speed or not wearing a helmet or seat belt.
Tragedy in India: a tire burst and caused the accident.
A World Bank report in 2021 pointed out that India accumulates 11 percent of the deaths from traffic accidents in the world, despite having only 1 percent of the world’s total number of vehicles.
The same report estimated that there are 150,000 road deaths in India every year, which is one fatality every four minutes.
With information from FAP.
