BHOPAL: In a heart-wrenching incident, two little girls were charred to death when a rusted bus they were playing in caught fire mysteriously in Shahdol district of Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday evening. Employees at a nearby petrol pump remained mute spectators even as the kids kept screaming for help for 15 long minutes.The children, three-year-old Ashi Kushwah and six-year-old Auwa Verma, often played in the abandoned bus that has lain rusting in Banganga area on NH78. Around 4.30pm, flames suddenly erupted in the bus and the kids were trapped. Witnessed say they started pleading for help but passers-by and the pump staff dare not reach out. "They had extinguishers and could have doused the fire, but did not act. Police were informed by a local resident, Arun Tiwari , and village sarpanch Premlal, both of whom were refuelling at the petrol pump. They tried to rescue the girls but the raging flames and smoke prevented them from entering the bus," said an eyewitness.Ashi's mother came running with a bucket of water and tried to douse it but her efforts proved futile. The blaze also spread to another ash-laden truck parked near the bus. Witnesses say there was a brief window when the fire and smoke weren't too fierce but it was lost. "The children kept screaming for 15 minutes. They probably suffocated to death and their bodies were charred by the time police and firefighters arrived," said a local.Shahdol SP Sushant Saxena said a case has been registered against petrol pump owner Nathmal Saraogi while bus owner Brijesh Dwivedi has been booked under Section 304A (causing death by negligence). "We are looking at CCTV," the SP said. District collector Mukesh Shukla has announced a compensation of Rs 4 lakh to each family.

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