At least 25 were killed in the incident...
Maharashtra: On Saturday, 01 July 2023, a bus traveling from Maharashtra's Yavatmal to Pune caught fire in Buldhana on the Samruddhi Mahamarg Expressway. Twenty-five people died.
The incident happened around 2 am in the morning.
"So far, 25 bodies have been extracted from the bus. A total of 32 people were traveling in the bus.
Nearly 8 people were injured. They are being shifted to Buldhana Civil Hospital," said Buldhana Police Deputy SP Baburao Mahamuni.
"A bus tyre burst and the vehicle hit a pole and caught fire immediately. The blaze spread in no time," the survivor said.
"The passenger seated next to me and I managed to escape by breaking the rear window," he said.
The survivor said that after the accident, teams of police and fire brigade reached the site immediately.
A local resident said four to five passengers managed to escape by breaking one window of the bus.
"But not everyone could do it," he said.
"The people who crawl out or jump out of the bus later told us that they sought help from other vehicles on the highway as people were getting burnt, but nobody helped them," he added.
"Many accidents take place on this route at Pimpalkhuta. We were called for help and when we went there, we saw the horrible situation. The tyres had fallen apart," a local resident said.
"People inside the bus were trying to break the windows and crawl out of it. We saw people getting burnt alive...The fire was so intense that we could not do anything. We were in tears and pain...," he said.
Further information is awaited.
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