25 killed, 8 injured after bus catches fire on Indian expressway

A bus that caught fire overnight on an expressway killed 25 people and left eight injured in western India on Saturday. The bus was reportedly travelling to Pune, a city in the Indian state of Maharashtra.

While driving on the expressway, the bus hit a pole and overturned after midnight, causing its diesel tank to catch fire, according to senior police officer Baburao Mahamuni.

"There were about 30–35 people in the bus. 25 people have died and eight others are injured," he said.

In Maharashtra state, about 400 kilometres (250 miles) east of Mumbai, the financial capital of India, the injured, including the bus driver, have been admitted to a hospital close to the crash site.

The police announced that an investigation into the collision was underway.

"The priority at this moment is to identify the bodies and hand them over to their family members," local media quoted police superintendent Sunil Kadasane as saying.

Images showed the bus engulfed in flames, and later the charred remains of the vehicle overturned on the highway.

According to police reports, three children were also among the dead.

"Deeply saddened by the devastating bus mishap in Buldhana," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Twitter. 

"My thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who lost their lives. May the injured recover soon," he tweeted.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde expressed "deep grief" over the incident and announced a compensation of INR500,000 ($6,100) to the families of those killed.

NDTV quoted him as saying that the bodies were charred "beyond recognition" and that DNA testing could be employed to identify the victims.

He also said a smart system was being installed on the Samruddhi Expressway to prevent accidents in the future.

"The system will check the speed of vehicles and alert them. But it will take some time," he said.

"Till then, we will have to create awareness among drivers at the toll booths on what precautions need to be taken to prevent accidents at night," NDTV quoted him.

Shinde and Modi posted separate tweets expressing sorrow and saying they would pay support to each victim’s family, amounting to INR700,000 ($8,500).

Accidents are common on India's vast network of roads, which are poorly maintained and notoriously dangerous. The main causes are excessive speed, not wearing helmets (sales of two-wheelers far outstrip those of cars), and not using seatbelts.

India accounts for 11% of the global road death toll despite having just 1% of the world's vehicles, according to a World Bank report released in 2021. The same report estimated 150,000 car crash fatalities in India annually, or one person every four minutes.

It added that road crashes cost the Indian economy around $75 billion each year, with medical expenses and loss of income driving many accident survivors into poverty.

In May, at least 21 people died when a bus veered off a bridge in India, reportedly after the driver fell asleep at the wheel.

Additionally, last October, at least 31 people were killed after a bus carrying wedding guests veered off the road and fell into a deep gorge in northern India.