Siwan: A sleeper bus en route from Delhi to Siwan in Bihar overturned on the Agra–Lucknow Expressway in Kanpur early Tuesday morning, resulting in the deaths of three passengers and injuring over 25 others. The incident occurred around 3:20 am in Araul while most of the 45 passengers were asleep. The bus collided with the divider at high speed before rolling over and skidding nearly 50 feet, severely damaging the front of the vehicle. One of the deceased was a five-year-old boy whose head was severed upon impact. His mother’s leg was severely injured and subsequently amputated at the hospital, where she remains in the ICU.
The boy’s father, also injured, was seen wandering the hospital with his daughter, repeatedly asking to see his son. Witnesses reported hearing a sudden jolt followed by screams as the bus overturned, with many passengers trapped between the seats for nearly 20 minutes before bystanders notified the police. Rescue teams had to break windows to extricate those trapped in the wreckage, which was strewn with glass and debris over more than 100 meters. Survivors claimed the driver was speeding, appeared intoxicated, and may have fallen asleep prior to the crash. Police confirmed that both the driver and conductor fled the scene immediately after the collision.
The bus, registered in Nalanda in 2018, was transporting passengers from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, and Haryana. All injured individuals were taken to Hallet Hospital in Kanpur for medical care. The deceased included five-year-old Anurag, 20-year-old Naseem Alam from Bihar, and 26-year-old Shashi Kumar from West Bengal. Authorities have initiated an investigation and are working to locate the fleeing driver and conductor.