“Around 4:50 am on Wednesday, we received information about a road accident. A police team reached the spot and began the rescue operation. Eighteen people were dead, 19 injured, and 22 passengers were not hurt,” Circle Officer (Unnao) Arvind Chaurasia said, adding some of the passengers are critical.

Among the dead, three were women and one boy.

“We were sleeping. I don’t know what happened,” Mohd Shamim, a passenger who sustained head injuries in the accident, told reporters at the hospital.

Another passenger, Dilshad, lost six of the eight family members he was travelling with. “We were sleeping at the time of the accident and woke up to find ourselves trapped inside the bus. Those who reached the spot were busy recording videos instead of helping us,” Dilshad said, adding the bus driver was speeding all night.

Meanwhile, in its preliminary inquiry, police found that the permit of the bus had expired in 2021.

“The bus, which is owned by one KC Jain, a resident of Jodhpur in Rajasthan, was registered in Mahoba district, Uttar Pradesh, in January 2019. Its fitness certificate expired in 2021. Additionally, both the permit and insurance of the bus had expired,” said the Circle Officer.

“A complaint has been lodged by a transport officer to file an FIR against the owner and the bus operator, a resident of Delhi,” said the officer.

“It was also found that 39 sleeper buses, belonging to KC Jain, were registered in Mahoba,” Assistant Regional Transport Officer (Mahoba) Daya Shankar said, adding the registration of 35 sleeper buses was suspended on Wednesday as their fitness certificates had expired.

Earlier in the day, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath termed the accident “extremely sad and heartbreaking”.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh to the next of kin of each deceased hailing from his state.

President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi also condoled the loss of lives. Modi announced an ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh for the families of the deceased and Rs 50,000 for the injured.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge expressed grief over the incident and urged the administration to provide all help to those affected.

Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said the tragic news was extremely saddening. “The government is requested to provide full assistance to the families of the victims and provide all possible help in the treatment of the injured,” he wrote in a Facebook post.

BSP president Mayawati said the news of the Unnao accident was extremely sad and measures must be taken to prevent such incidents in future.

According to an official release, the district administration has issued helpline numbers — 0515-29707662, 0515-2970767, 10774 (toll-free), 96514327035, 94544174476 and 8081211297.

With PTI

Akhilesh blames ‘govt negligence’: What happens to crores of rupees collected daily on expressways?

Lucknow: While condoling the death of 18 people in the bus accident that took place on Lucknow-Agra Expressway in Unnao, Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday said the “negligence of the BJP government” was responsible for it.

“It should be a matter of investigation that despite a dedicated parking zone on the expressway, why was a vehicle parked in the middle of the road? How did the monitoring go wrong despite CCTVs being installed? Are the CCTVs not working?”

“Where were the highway police? Was regular patrolling not being done? How long did it take for the highway ambulance service to arrive after the accident and what was its role in relation to the casualties?” he asked in a post on X.

“Why did the vehicle (tanker) not receive towing service if it was broken down? Crores of rupees are collected on the expressway daily. Instead of being spent on the management and administration, is that money going somewhere else? The BJP government should answer these questions systematically,” he said. ENS