In a devastating pre-dawn tragedy on the Yamuna Expressway in Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura district, eight buses and three smaller vehicles were involved in a massive pile-up amid dense fog, resulting in at least 13 people dying from burns and 43 others sustaining injuries as the collision escalated into a fierce inferno.
Gulzari spent the entire day making frantic rounds of multiple hospitals, desperately searching for his sister-in-law, Parvati, who was travelling on one of the buses. Parvati successfully saved her two children by pushing them out through a broken window of the burning vehicle, but her own whereabouts remain unknown, with hope diminishing as time passes.
Outside a post-mortem facility in Mathura, Gulzari told reporters that, according to his niece and nephew, their mother threw them out of a broken window of the flaming bus caught up in the pile-up, before collapsing with shards of glass in her neck. That was the last time they saw her. He continued to check among the mangled and charred remains of the deceased, which were being brought to hospitals wrapped in black polybags.
According to police, at least 13 people died of burns, and 43 sustained injuries when the vehicle pile-up turned into an inferno. Eight buses and three smaller vehicles collided with each other in the thick fog around 4.30 am, a police officer said.
With most of the bodies charred beyond recognition, authorities have turned to DNA testing for identification. So far, three deceased individuals have been identified: Akhilendra Pratap Yadav (44) from Prayagraj, Rampal (75) from Maharajganj district, and Sultan Ahmed (62), a resident of Gonda district.
Also Read: Fog causes vehicle pileup in Haryana; two dead
Senior Superintendent of Police Shlok Kumar stated that the remains will be matched with DNA samples from relatives arriving to search for their loved ones. He expressed concerns that the death toll may rise further.
Mathura District Magistrate Chandra Prakash Singh announced that arrangements are being made for the last rites of those whose bodies have been identified.
Locals reported that the sound of the collision echoed for kilometres, and the towering flames were visible from a great distance.
The dense fog severely hampered rescue operations, providing almost no visibility for first responders. As the sun set, the charred and twisted wreckage of the buses and vehicles remained scattered at the site, serving as a grim reminder of the catastrophe, while rescue teams continued their efforts to recover bodies or whatever remained of them.
Also Read: Dense fog causes multi-bus crash on Haryana highway; several hurt
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