Siwan: A sleeper bus travelling from Delhi to Siwan in Bihar overturned on the Agra–Lucknow Expressway in Kanpur early on Tuesday morning, killing three passengers and injuring more than 25. The accident took place around 3:20am in Araul when most of the 45 passengers on board were asleep. The bus hit the divider at high speed before turning over and dragging nearly 50 feet across the road, crushing the front section of the vehicle.
Among those killed was a five-year-old boy whose head was severed due to the force of the crash. His mother’s leg was torn off and later amputated in hospital, where she remains in the ICU. The child’s father was also injured and was seen moving helplessly around the hospital carrying his daughter, repeatedly asking to see his son. Witnesses said he collapsed in tears inside the postmortem room after seeing the body, leaving police officers and hospital staff struggling to console him.
Passengers who survived described a sudden jolt, followed by screams in the dark as the bus overturned. Many became trapped between the seats for nearly 20 minutes before passersby alerted police. Rescue teams broke the bus windows to pull people out from the wreckage, where glass and broken parts were scattered across more than 100 metres. Survivors alleged that the driver was driving at high speed, appeared drunk and may have fallen asleep before the bus hit the divider.
Police confirmed that the driver and conductor fled the scene immediately after the accident. The bus, registered in Nalanda in 2018, was carrying passengers from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi and Haryana. All injured passengers were taken to Hallet Hospital in Kanpur for treatment. The deceased were identified as five-year-old Anurag, 20-year-old Naseem Alam from Bihar and 26-year-old Shashi Kumar from West Bengal. Authorities have launched an investigation and efforts are under way to trace the absconding driver and conductor.
