The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)

18 killed, 19 injured as bus on its way to Delhi hits tanker in Unnao

A DELHI- BOUND double- decker bus from Bihar rammed into a milk tanker on Agra- Lucknow Expressway in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh in the early hours of Wednesday, leaving 18 people dead and 19 injured.

According to police, the bus carrying 59 people appeared to be over speeding and hit the tanker from behind. After the collision, both the bus and the milk tanker overturned. The drivers of the bus and the milk tanker died in the accident.

“Around 4: 50 am on Wednesday, we received informatio­n about a road accident. A police team reached the spot and began the rescue operation. Eighteen people were dead, 19 injured, and 22 passengers were unhurt,” Circle Officer ( Unnao) Arvind Chaurasia said. The victims include three women and one boy.

“We were sleeping. I don’t know what happened,” Mohd Shamim, a passenger who sustained head injuries told reporters at the hospital.

Another passenger, Dilshad, lost six of the eight family members he was travelling with. “We were sleeping at the time of the accident and woke up to find ourselves trapped inside. Those who re ache d t he s pot were busy recording videos instead of helping us, ” Dil s had s ai d, adding t he bus driver was speeding all night.

Meanwhile, preliminar­y inquiry revealed that the bus permit had expired in 2021.

“The bus, which is owned by one KC Jain, a resident of Jodhpur in Rajasthan, was registered in Mahoba district, Uttar Pradesh, in January 2019. Its fitness certificat­e expired in 2021. Additional­ly, both the permit and insurance of the bus had expired,” Chaurasia said.

“A complaint has been lodged by a transport officer to file an FIR against the owner and the bus operator, a resident of Delhi,” said the officer.

“It was also found that 39 sleeper buses, belonging to KC Jain, were registered in Mahoba,”

Assistant Regional Transport Officer ( Mahoba) Daya Shankar said, adding the registrati­on of 35 sleeper buses was suspended on Wednesday as their fitness certificat­es had expired.

Earlier in the day, Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath termed the accident “extremely sad and heartbreak­ing”.

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar announced an ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh to the next of kin of each deceased hailing from his state.

President Droupadi Murmu and PM Narendra Modi also condoled the loss of lives. Modi announced an ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh for the families of the deceased and Rs 50,000 for the injured.

Congress chief Mallikarju­n Kharge expressed grief over the incident and urged the administra­tion to provide all help to those affected.

Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi wrote in a Facebook post, “The government is requested to provide full assistance to the families of the victims and provide all possible help in the treatment of the injured.”

WITH PTI INPUTS