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posted by: Pragati Pal
Last updated: Jul 02, 2023 at 15:01 IST
There were 33 passengers on board, 25 of whom were killed and eight wounded. (photo: News18)
Most of the victims were charred beyond recognition after the bus caught fire in the early hours of Saturday, an official said, and efforts were made to persuade their families to cremate their bodies en masse rather than have their bodies analyzed for DNA.
A senior official said that on Sunday, 24 of the 25 victims who were charred to death after a private bus caught fire in Boldhana district of Maharashtra state were mass cremated.
An official said earlier in the day that the body of one of the victims will be handed over to the family for burial.
The official said that because most of the victims were charred beyond recognition after the bus caught fire in the early hours of Saturday, efforts were made to persuade their families to cremate their bodies instead of DNA analysis.
DNA testing is a lengthy procedure that may take days to verify the identity of the deceased, depending on the sources.
Twenty-four bodies were cremated at Vaikunth Dham Hindu Smashan Bhoomi in Buldhana on Sunday.
Relatives of the deceased and Maharashtrian Minister Girish Mahajan were present during the cremation and paid homage to the deceased.
Police earlier said that 25 passengers were charred to death as the private bus they were traveling in caught fire after it collided with a barrier on the Nagpur-Mumbai Samrudhi Highway in Boldhana district of eastern Maharashtra at around 1.30 am on Saturday.
Among the dead were 11 passengers and 14 passengers. Ten of the victims were from Warda, seven from Pune, four from Nagpur and two each from Yavatmal and Washim.
The 25 family members of the deceased have arrived in Baladna, according to the local administration.
Eight people survived the terrible accident, including the driver and the “cleaner” (assistant driver).
A case of reckless driving was registered against the bus driver on Saturday with police believing that, at first glance, he left and lost control of the vehicle.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde ordered an investigation into the incident and announced a gratuity of five thousand rupees to the families of each deceased.
(This story was not edited by the News18 staff and was published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)
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