A tragic early-morning blaze on Kisan Path in Mohanlalganj claimed five lives and left several injured when a private sleeper bus en route from Begusarai (Bihar) to Delhi caught fire around 5 am on Thursday.
According to Lucknow South DCP Nipun Agarwal, the bus was carrying some 70–80 passengers, most of whom were asleep when flames erupted. “This morning, the Mohanlalganj PS received information that a private sleeper bus…caught fire,” he said. “Unfortunately, five people from Bihar—two women, two children and one man—perished. The rescued passengers are being sent home.”
Eyewitnesses reported that flames were visible from nearly a kilometre away. The bus continued moving briefly after the fire began, preventing a timely stop. Fire crews arrived swiftly and doused the inferno within half an hour, but the emergency exit jammed, trapping those seated at the rear.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (Mohanlalganj) Rajneesh Verma told PTI that preliminary investigations point to a short circuit in the bus’s gearbox as the likely cause. “The emergency door failed to open, resulting in casualties among passengers in the rear compartments,” Verma said. A detailed probe into the incident is ongoing.