Onlookers stand near the wreckage of a bus in Baruch town, about 200 km (125 miles) from the western Indian city of Ahmadabad, yesterday. At least 30 people were killed, many of them burnt to death, when a bus they were travelling on crashed into a tanker carrying chemicals in the western Indian state of Gujarat, yesterday, police said. - REUTERS
NEW DELHI (AP):
A BUS collided with a truck on a highway in western India yesterday and burst into flames, killing at least 30 people, police said.
The head-on collision took place near the town of Baruch in the state of Gujarat, Police Superintendent G. S. Malik said.
Twenty-two people were killed at the scene, and eight later died of burns at a hospital, the officer said. Six people remain in critical condition.
Immediately after the collision, the bus was engulfed in flames, and "most died of burn injuries," Malik said. "The fuel tank of the Volvo coach burst on impact, which ignited a deadly fire."
Authorities will conduct DNA tests to determine the identities of the dead, all overnight travellers on their way to Ahmadabad, the state's capital, from the western city of Bombay, he said. Some 41 passengers were on the bus.
The truck driver, who escaped unhurt, was arrested, Malik said.
Baruch is about 216 kilometres (134 miles) north of Ahmadabad.
