13 passengers charred to death in bus-dumper collision in MP

The death toll in the accident involving a private bus which caught fire after a collision with a dumper in Madhya Pradesh's Guna district rose to 13 on Thursday, an official said.

IMAGE: Rescue operation underway after a bus caught fire following a collision with a dumper, in Guna, Madhya Pradesh, December 27, 2023. Photograph: ANI on X

One more body was recovered from the accident site. It is probably of the driver of the dumper that collided with the bus, sub- divisional magistrate Dinesh Sanvle told PTI.

The bus overturned and caught fire after colliding head-on with the dumper on Guna-Aaron road at around 9 pm on Wednesday following which a senior police official said 12 bus passengers were killed and 14 others received injuries.

After the accident, the bus turned into a fireball, Sanvle said, adding that 13 people were charred to death.

The injured persons were taken to a hospital for treatment.

The ill-fated bus was on its way to Aaron while the dumper was headed towards Guna when the accident occurred, police said.

Superintendent of Police Vijay Khatri said there were around 30 passengers in the bus at the time of the incident and four of them somehow managed to come out of the vehicle and went home.

Guna Collector Tarun Rathi said the administration was conducting a probe into the incident.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav was on way to Guna on Thursday morning to meet those injured in the accident, an official said.

He announced an assistance of Rs 4 lakh each to the kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 each for the injured. The chief minister also ordered a probe into the accident.

In a message on X late Wednesday night, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia termed the incident as painful and said, "Soon after getting information about the incident, I spoke to the collector and SP and directed them to start a relief and rescue operation."