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Jaipur, October 15 (IANS) The death toll in the massive fire that broke out in a sleeper bus near the War Museum on the Jaisalmer-Jodhpur road has increased to 21. The dead also include a 10-year-old boy, who died this morning.
A fire broke out in the bus at around 3.30 pm on Tuesday afternoon, which quickly spread to the AC sleeper bus within a few minutes. Nineteen passengers burnt to death on the spot.
One of the seriously injured, 79-year-old Hussain Khan of Jaisalmer, died while being taken to Jodhpur. This morning, 10-year-old Yunus, a resident of Jodhpur, who was undergoing treatment at Mahatma Gandhi Hospital, also died, taking the death toll to 21.
So far only two victims have been identified. After post-mortem the bodies were handed over to their families. The remaining 19 bodies could not be identified due to severe burns. Authorities have started collecting DNA samples from family members at hospitals in Jodhpur and Jaisalmer to facilitate identification.
Officials hope that the identification process will be completed by this evening. Fourteen passengers were injured in the fire, of which four are currently in critical condition and on ventilator support at Mahatma Gandhi Hospital in Jodhpur.
The injured have been identified as Maipal Singh, Omaram, Manoj Bhatia, Iqbala, Firoz, Bhaga Bai, Peer Mohammed, Jirraj Imimata, Vishasha, Ashish, Rafiq, Laxman and Ubedula.
Eyewitnesses reported that the fire spread worryingly quickly – within just seven minutes due to a suspected short circuit in the bus’s battery. It is believed that the fire broke out due to leakage of AC gas.
The design of the new sleeper bus, which had emergency exits only at the rear, limited the ability of passengers to escape quickly.
The tragedy has raised serious concerns over bus safety standards and emergency preparedness, especially in vehicles with high-capacity air conditioning systems and limited egress points.
–IANS
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