10 charred to death as bus set on fire in India

In a gruesome incident, ten persons including two children were charred to death while 17 others were seriously injured on Sunday in Madhya Pradesh town when the driver of a private bus set afire another bus after a harsh argument, police said. The shocking incident took place at a road barrier near Sendhwa town in Barwani district of the state after drivers and conductors of two private buses from Indore and Rajasthan had an argument over some issue at another road outpost, the PTI news agency quoted Barwani Superintendent of Police (SP) R S Meena as saying. The driver of the Rajasthan-based bus dropped all his passengers at some place and later forced the Indore-registered bus to halt near Sendhwa. Seething with rage, he set the vehicle, packed with passengers, afire by pouring some inflammable material, Meena said. The bus was immediately engulfed in fire, resulting in the death of 10 passengers, including two children, the SP said, adding 17 were seriously injured. The exact number of passengers in the bus was not yet known, the police said. Five of the injured were rushed to Indore, while the rest were admitted to a hospital in Sendhwa. Following the incident, a group of locals set the Rajasthan-based bus ablaze later. The accused driver and conductor have escaped, the police said. Meanwhile, Barwani District Collector Renu Tiwari has ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident.