Bus catches fire; 12 dead, 43 injured in Nashik

A two-year-old child including 12 passengers died and 43 others were injured as a private bus travelling to Mumbai caught fire after hitting a trailer truck in Nashik city of Maharashtra early on Saturday, police officials said.
The accident took place at Nandur Naka on the Nashik-Aurangabad highway around 5.15 am when the sleeper bus was coming from Yavatmal in eastern Maharashtra, they said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the loss of lives in the bus tragedy and announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh for the next of kin of each deceased and Rs 50,000 each for the injured. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde announced financial assistance of Rs 5 lakh to the families of the dead and said the medical expenses of the injured would be borne by the state government. Some eyewitnesses said the fire was so intense that they could not do anything to save the passengers for some time and had to stand there helplessly.