Buldhana: As many as twenty-five bus passengers were charred to death after the vehicle caught fire on the Samruddhi Expressway in Maharashtra’s Buldhana district on Saturday, a senior police official told UNI.

According to the official, the private bus was on its way from Nagpur to Pune when it rammed into a divider and its tyre burst and hit a pole, and caught fire around 1.30 am near Sindkhedraja in Buldhana district.

Total 33 passengers, who were travelling in the bus.

Out of the total number of passengers present in the bus, 25 were charred to death, the official said.

The eight passengers who survived were rushed to a nearby hospital and they are safe, he said.

Many of the passengers hailed from Nagpur, Wardha and Yavatmal.

There are 3 children among those who died, and the rest are adults, he added.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde expressed his condolences to the families of 25 persons who lost their lives in the tragic accident and announced ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh for the relative of each victim.