18 Labourers, Sleeping On Road, Killed As Truck Rams Bus In UP

18 labourers, sleeping on the road in front of a bus they had been travelling in, were crushed to death last night after a speeding truck hit the bus in Uttar Pradesh's Barabanki district, 28 km from state capital Lucknow.

The labourers, who are from Bihar, were returning from Haryana and Punjab when their bus broke down on the national highway that leads to Bihar. They then slept on the road in front of the bus.

The truck hit the bus from behind, causing the bus to move ahead and crush the labourers.

The injured labourers have been taken to a nearby hospital, said senior police officer Satya Narayan Sabat. A rescue operation to recover the bodies stuck under the bus is on, the officer said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also expressed grief over the loss of lives in the accident.

"We were around 130 people who left from a bus stop near Haryana's Ambala for Bihar... At around 8 pm, the bus broke down and the driver informed us that the repair work will take time. Many of us came out of the bus. A few were sleeping on the road, a few were eating or resting," said Bharat, a survivor.

"A few hours later, at around 11 pm, a truck collided into the parked bus, resulting in many casualties," he added.

"Following the accident, the district administration and the police launched a probe into the matter and is ensuring that the injured receive the best medical treatment that's available," the senior police official said.