Five charred to death as moving bus catches fire in Lucknow

Lucknow: Five people, including two children and two women, were charred to death when the private bus in which they were travelling caught fire near Lucknow on Thursday morning.

The ill-fated bus was on its way from Begusarai in Bihar to Delhi, when it suddenly caught fire on the Kisan Path in Mohanlalganj area, on the outskirts of Lucknow city around five in the morning when most of the passengers were sleeping, police sources here said.

The driver and conductor of the bus escaped when the burning bus came to a halt, sources said. Some passengers managed to jump from the bus after breaking the window panes.

Fire tenders, which reached the spot after around 20 minutes, managed to douse the flames but by that time the bus was completely gutted. Five bodies were recovered from the bus, the police said.

Some passengers also suffered burn injuries and were admitted to the nearby hospitals.

Four of the five deceased were identified. They included Lakkhi Devi, Sony aged 55 and 26 years respectively, and Devraj and Sakshi, aged three and two respectively.

Police said that efforts were on to trace the driver and conductor of the bus.