Five charred to death after car collides with bus on Yamuna e-way in Mathura
Lucknow: Five people, who worked in Delhi-NCR, were burnt alive after their car collided with a Delhi-bound private sleeper bus which lost control when it hit a divider on the busy Yamuna Expressway in Mathura on Monday morning.
Police said the incident took place near the 117th milestone on the Agra-Noida carriageway under Mahavan police limits.
Mathura SSP, Shailesh Pandey, said, “The collision happened when one of the bus tyres burst and the heavy vehicle hit a Maruti Swift, coming from behind, after touching a divider. Soon, the car was engulfed in flames which spread to the bus coming from Bihar. While its passengers had a lucky escape, those inside the car were trapped and were charred, some of them beyond recognition.”
The victims included Anshuman Yadav (28), product manager at a private telecom firm in Noida who was driving the car with “Delhi registration number”, and his colleague Himanshu Yadav (27). Three others — Zayed Khan (25), Sarwar Hussain (32) and Shiv Kishan Rawat (31) — later joined them. All five victims belonged to Firozabad district of Agra division.
SHO of Mahavan, Asha Chaudhary, said, “Anshuman and Himanshu were joined by three others via a ride-sharing mobile App. All worked in engineering firms in Delhi-NCR. They had travelled with each other in the past as well. Preliminary probe suggests the car’s central locking system malfunctioned. The victims were unable to open the car’s power windows. We had to use a hydraulic cutter to open the doors.”
Rahat Ali, one of the bus passengers travelling from Bihar’s Gaya district who witnessed the horrific incident, said, “There were around 40 passengers. Our bus suddenly took a turn and collided with a divider. A car coming from behind got hit and burst into flames. All the bus passengers left their luggage and immediately got down. Fire engine arrived late. It was a narrow escape for us.”
Relatives of Anshuman and Himanshu said the two men had left for Noida around 7am on Monday to join work. Both were at home for the weekend. Anshuman got married on Dec 7, 2022. He is survived by wife who is pregnant. Himanshu was about to get married in March.
A video of a sub inspector in tears trying to console relatives of the victims surfaced on social media later in the day.
UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath expressed his condolences to the victims’ family members.
