Picture : ANI/X
A jammed door in the AC sleeper bus that caught fire near Jaisalmer was the main reason for the high number of casualties, police said .
According to media reports, Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma personally reviewed the rescue and medical response, and called the incident “deeply tragic”.
Twenty passengers were burnt alive and 15 others sustained critical burn injuries after the private bus travelling to Jodhpur on Tuesday afternoon caught fire, barely 10 minutes after it left Jaisalmer.
Kailash Dan, Additional SP, Jaisalmer, said the fire caused the bus door to get locked, preventing passengers from escaping.
“Most of the bodies were found in the aisle of the bus, which shows that people tried to escape but couldn’t because the door was stuck,” he told PTI.
The bus caught fire near the Army War Memorial. The Army personnel reached the site quickly and joined the rescue operations. The door had to be pried open, while a few passengers managed to escape by breaking windows. Water from a passing tanker was also used to control the blaze.
