At least seven people were charred to death and over 14 others injured in a fire which broke out on a luxury bus after it collided with a diesel tanker in the western Indian state of Maharashtra in the early hours of Wednesday, a senior police official said, reports NDTV.
The incident happened around 1am near Manor on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway, when most passengers were sleeping. The bus was travelling from Pune to Ahmedabad.
Emergency services and top police officers rushed to the spot and traffic was stopped on the highway for four hours. The police say it will take a few hours for normal traffic to resume.
“We had to be very careful in our operations as there was a diesel tanker and a risk of explosion,” said a senior police officer at the accident site.