‘Was travelling with my husband… don’t know where he is now’: Victim of Greater Noida bus fire

Greater Noida, Sep 24 (IANS) A woman who suffered burn injuries in the Greater Noida double-decker bus fire was admitted to Aarogyadhara Hospital in Jewar for treatment on Thursday. Speaking to IANS, she shared her ordeal in the aftermath of the accident. Nine people died, and several others were seriously injured after a massive fire broke out in the double-decker bus in Greater Noida, near the 33 Km milestone on the Yamuna Expressway.

The double-decker bus was going from Delhi’s Kashmiri Gate to Uttar Pradesh’s Mahoba.

“I was going from Hisar, Chandannagar to Mahoba with my husband because my mother-in-law had passed away,” she said. When asked about her husband, the woman started crying and said that she doesn’t know where he was now after the mishap. “His name is Devendra,” she said.

Narrating her experience, she said, “I don’t know what happened; suddenly the bus caught fire, and people started panicking and shouting ‘fire, fire’.”

Additional District Magistrate Ajeet Kumar Singh of Gautam Buddha Nagar said, “The fire was caused due to a short circuit.”

“As you might know, the tragic accident occurred around 11.15 p.m. on Wednesday. Preliminary investigation reveals that a short circuit caused a fire on the bus. It was an AC sleeper bus travelling from Delhi to Mahoba. Nine people died and one of the victims, a woman, is being treated at the Aarogyadhara Hospital,” he informed.

He said, “Some of the passengers who had minor injuries have been sent back to Mahoba to be treated for minor injuries. Some returned in personal vehicles while others were given special transport.”

President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi mourned the tragedy. The Centre and the Uttar Pradesh governments both announced compensation of Rs. 2 lakh each for the next of kin of all the deceased and Rs. 50,000 to the injured.

More than 30 passengers were reportedly travelling on the bus when it suddenly caught fire. Nine passengers, including a woman, were trapped inside and burnt alive in the massive blaze.

Upon receiving the information, senior police officials, along with the local police force and a fire tender stationed at the Jewar Toll Plaza, responded, according to the officials. Four additional fire tenders and a fire service unit immediately rushed to the scene and completely extinguished the fire.

Preliminary investigations suggest the fire originated from a spark or blast in the bus’s air conditioning system, which ignited the engine’s lubricating oil and caused the fire to spread rapidly.

The driver and conductor were taken into custody, and a case was registered under relevant sections.

–IANS

sud/rad