Buldhana, Jul 1 (IANS): In a monumental disaster, 26 passengers were charred to death as they slept, while seven survived a private bus accident on the Nagpur-Mumbai Samruddhi Expressway, at Buldhana in the wee hours of Saturday, officials said.

The sleeper-coach airconditioned deluxe bus, belonging to Vidarbha Travels, was traveling from Nagpur to Pune and the tragedy occurred near the Sindhkhedraja area around 1.30 a.m., officials said.

As per a preliminary probe by the Amravati RTO, the bus was plying from Nagpur to Pune when it hit an expressway electric pole, the driver lost control and the vehicle rammed into a divider, its front axle broke, it overturned, sparks ignited the diesel tank and it a huge ball of flames engulfing the vehicle and trapping the passengers inside, at a desolate spot.

There were around 33 passengers aboard including two drivers and a cleaner, and 26 were killed while the survivors have been admitted to the Buldhana civil hospital for treatment.

Later this evening, the driver at the wheel, Danish Shaikh was grilled in the hospital by the Buldhana Police and later booked under charges of ‘culpable homicide not amounting to murder’.

As the tragedy led to a political outcry, Shinde and Fadnavis – who airdashed to the spot - said that the police are probing the causes of the accident whether it was due to human error or other causes.

Following a clamour from Pawar and others, the government also announced that a panel of experts would study and find out the causes behind the series of accidents reported from the expressway.

A grim Pawar spoke of how the tragedy had brought focus on the issue of speed-limits for vehicles, the monotony of driving on the expressway without any amenities on both sides could be linked to the disaster.

The NCP leader urged the government to “take serious note of this, appoint an expert panel to examine the problems, and initiate immediate remedial measures”.

The scene of the accident presented a ghastly picture with the dark charred skeletal remains of the Ashok Leyland built luxury bus lying beside the expressway, and a stench of the bodies and the ashen vehicle looming there.

At dawn, a chilling picture emerged when the burnt bodies of the victims were retrieved and kept on a clearing, covered with sheets, while scores of bags, clothes, papers, files, footwear, glasses and other belongings of the passengers could be seen strewn around for several metres in the vicinity.

An eyewitness said that “people were sleeping at that hour and got very little time to react” in the darkness and the confusion as the bus seemed to be dashing and tumbling without any control and enveloped in flames soon afterward.

“It was a chilling sight… Only the lucky few of us who managed to break the rear windows could jump out of the burning bus and rush to safety,” a shaken boy - who survived the ordeal by a whisker away from death - told local mediapersons.

A majority of the victims, including three minor children, have been burnt beyond recognition, the police said that they will try to match them with the DNAs of their relatives before handing them over to the kin for the last rites.

The state government announced a thorough probe into the tragedy while Buldhana Collector Dr. H. P. Tummod, Superintendent of Police Sunil Kadasane, Amravati Divisional Commissioner Dr. Nidhi Pandey and others are monitoring the situation.

President Draupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Maharashtra Governor Ramesh Bais, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, several state ministers, and others condoled the deaths in the accident.

Opposition Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, state President Nana Patole, Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar, Leader of Opposition Ajit Pawar, National Working President Supriya Sule, General Secretary Dr. Jitendra Awhad, Chief Spokesperson Mahesh Tapase, Shiv Sena (UBT)’s President and ex-CM Uddhav Thackeray, MP Sanjay Raut, farmer-face Kishore Tiwari and several other state leaders expressed grief over the tragedy.

The PM declared an ex-gratia of Rs 200,000 from the PMNRF plus Rs 50,000 for the injured, while the CM announced a compensation of Rs 500,000 for the kin of each deceased, and free treatment for the injured.