Agra/Lucknow: A 31-year-old woman post-PhD researcher with Lucknow-based Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences and her six-year-old daughter were charred to death after their bus rammed into a divider on Agra-Lucknow expressway and caught fire. The horrific accident occurred at 1 am on Monday near milestone 77 close to Firozabad-Mainpuri district border under the Karhal police jurisdiction.According to police, the UP roadways bus – hit by another bus whose tyre had burst – rammed into the divider and drove over half a dozen street lights before it caught fire.Jyoti Zack Nirwan, a senior demonstrator with SGPGI’s molecular medicine department, was travelling to Lucknow from Ghaziabad along with her daughter Niti. Jyoti’s husband Dr Nirwan Nishant is a government medical officer in Lucknow.Karhal circle officer Rakesh Kumar Pandey said, “The high-end Scania bus had automated door locks which got jammed after the collision. While the driver managed to jump out of the vehicle, all the six passengers got trapped. While two of them were later rescued by dial 100 cops, Jyoti and her daughter were burnt to death.”Mainpuri city circle officer Abhay Narayan Rai said, “The woman and her daughter’s charred bodies were found on bus floor embracing each other. It seems they attempted to escape but failed due to heavy smoke. Since their charred bodies were difficult to separate, we sent the bodies together for autopsy.”According to cops, Jyoti had boarded the bus from Pari Chowk in Greater Noida where she had gone for a job interview.“After boarding the bus, she had made a video call to her husband. Dr Nirwan Nishant was waiting at the Alambagh bus terminal in Lucknow since 3 am,” the Mainpuri CO said.Staff at SGPGI, where Jyoti also worked as a teacher and took classes in molecular medicine, were shocked to hear the bad news.“Jyoti’s sudden death left behind a vacuum in the team. While we will miss a diligent scholar, her students will miss a great teacher,” said Dr Alok Srivastava, faculty member, SGPGI, informing that Jyoti had published several papers in the area of medical genetics and was all set to represent the institute at an international conference slated to take place later this year.She lived in Lucknow’s Rajajipuram area.The Uttar Pradesh Government Doctors’ Association also extended support to the Nirwan family. “While death is synonymous to tragedy, the way Jyoti and her child died was extremely painful. We extend all possible support to Dr Nishant and the entire family,” said Dr Sunit Saxena, deputy chief medical officer of Lucknow.The other two victims of the horrific accident were identified as Mohammed Israr Ahmed of Bulandshahr and Dhananjay Singh Maurya, the bus conductor who was Pratapgarh.The survivors, identified as Murudhal Nathani and Saurabh Srivastava, both Lucknow residents, were admitted to Saifai hospital.According to a recent RTI reply, Agra-Lucknow expressway reported four road accidents per day in the past 17 months, in which 191 commuters lost their lives. The country’s longest expressway witnessed 1,966 road accidents between August 1, 2017 and December 31, 2018. Out of this, 145 accidents were caused by stray animals, while rest were caused by tyre burst, over-speeding and people falling asleep on steering wheels.

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