The bus caught fire after the collision near the Bareilly bypass in Uttar Pradesh.
Twenty-two people have been reported dead and 19 injured after a bus collided with a truck near the Bareilly bypass on National Highway-24 in Uttar Pradesh today at 1.10 am. The bodies have been badly charred as the bus caught fire after the collision. The injured have been taken to a district hospital and six of them have been reported as serious. Authorities have failed to identify a single body yet.
"Around 5.45 am, we received 22 dead bodies from the bus accident site. The bodies are charred beyond recognition. It is difficult to even determine the gender of the people," said Dr Shailesh Ranjan of the Bareilly district hospital.
The bus was carrying 38 passengers, along with two drivers and a conductor, to Gonda district from New Delhi.
Authorities said that the truck was coming from Shahjahanpur district and the driver is absconding.
The diesel tank of the bus burst after the collision which led to a fire. According to reports, it took over 90 minutes for fire engines to reach the spot.
"The truck and the bus both caught fire after the collision. Fire engines reached as soon as possible but the flames were so high that it took us a lot of effort to actually douse the flames and reach inside", said senior police officer SK Bhagat.
The bus belongs to the Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath expressed their condolences on Twitter. PM Modi announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh for the family of the deceased and Rs 50,000 for the injured from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund.