Families struggle to identify charred bodies as 6 victims of Greater Noida bus fire identified

Grieving families gathered at a post-mortem house in Sector 94 in Noida on Friday, struggling to identify loved ones killed a day ago when a sleeper bus caught fire on the Yamuna Expressway, with police identifying six of the nine deceased so far.

The bus, travelling from Kashmere Gate in Delhi to Mahoba in Uttar Pradesh, caught fire around 11.20 pm on Wednesday near the 33-km milestone of the expressway, killing nine passengers, according to officials.

At the Sector 94 post-mortem house, relatives waited anxiously as the charred condition of the bodies made identification difficult.

Among those at the mortuary was Sarvagya, son of Rekha Bhardwaj, an injured passenger who survived the incident. Rekha had been travelling with her husband Devendra Sahay Bhardwaj, who died in the fire.

Sarvagya said his father, a retired teacher from a university in Hisar, Haryana, and his mother were travelling to Mahoba to attend the last rites of his grandmother.

Another family, siblings Shivam and Nancy, spent hours at the mortuary after learning about the bus fire. They eventually identified the bodies of their mother and brother after considerable difficulty and were seen consoling each other while waiting for officials to allow them to complete the formalities.

In another case, Ayushi, the granddaughter of one of the deceased, identified the body with the help of an anklet that had been gifted by her son, highlighting the difficulty faced by families in identifying the victims because of the extensive burns.

Police have identified six of the deceased as Shruti Rawat (31), a resident of Chhatarpur in Madhya Pradesh; Saroj Gupta (52) and Mayank Gupta (28), both residents of Mughalpuria Bazar in Rath, Hamirpur; Devendra Sahay Bhardwaj (60), a resident of Chandra Nagar village in Hisar, Haryana; Har Sharan Gupta (55), a resident of Balaji Palace in Rajendra Nagar under Orai police station in Jalaun district; and Usha Devi (65), a resident of Main Road, Muskura, Hamirpur.

Police have arrested two drivers and a conductor in connection with the incident. The drivers have been identified as Pawan and Yogesh Dixit, both residents of Kanpur Dehat, while the conductor has been identified as Rohit, also a resident of Kanpur Dehat.

During interrogation, the accused told the police that they were travelling from Kashmere Gate to Mahoba on Wednesday night.

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The accused allegedly abandoned the vehicle and fled after it suddenly caught fire.

An FIR has been registered under BNS Sections 281 (rash driving), 125(b) (endangering life), 105 (culpable homicide), among others, police said.

Rajesh Mohan, a Public Transport Officer with the Gautam Buddh Nagar Regional Transport Office, told PTI that the bus, bearing registration number BR32PA8647, had accumulated fines totalling Rs 1.75 lakh through 19 challans.

The bus is operated by Raj Kalpana Travel Agency of Madhya Pradesh but is registered in Madhubani, Bihar, the official said.

Additional District Magistrate Ajeet Kumar Singh said on Thursday that the fire was caused by a short circuit, adding that there were 35 passengers onboard and nine people died.

The injured passengers were provided first aid before being transported to Mahoba in a special vehicle, Singh said.