In Nuh, Haryana, a tourist bus caught fire, leaving eight dead and about twenty-four injured at 1:30 am, late night, on Friday the incident took place. There were about sixty passengers on the bus. The majority of the travelers were on pilgrimages based on their religions. Images shows the burning bus perched atop what seemed to be a flyover or bridge.
An eyewitness, an older woman who was riding on the bus, said she discovered vehicle was on fire and promptly jumped to save herself. She added that a man on a bike saw the bus on fire and passed the vehicle to notify the driver.
“I heard a sound from under the bus. I thought the vehicle was plying on an elevated structure on the road; hence made the sound. However, later there was a smell as well. A biker who was behind the bus for several kilometres overtook and came to the front, and told the driver that the bus had caught fire. I was sitting in one of the front seats, so I jumped,” she said.
The woman identified several of the passengers as her family, claiming that they were from Punjab’s Hoshiarpur. They had taken a seven to eight day pilgrimage and they were heading back home.
Another witness, who owns a roadside shop, said that he was able to extract five or ten people from the bus by breaking open a few windows. But with the fire raging so ferociously, he was unable to assist any more.
“I brought water too, but it didn’t help. Police were alerted, and around 4 fire engines arrived nearly three hours later when the fire had calmed down and the bus was completely destroyed,” he added.
