GREATER NOIDA: At 5am on Friday, Yamuna Expressway witnessed one of its deadliest accidents when a bus with 40 passengers crashed into the back of a truck, leaving 8 people dead and 28 injured. Seven of them are critical. Rescuers pulled passengers out of the windows as the impact left the front of the bus crushed.Last month, nine people died on the expressway in Mathura’s Baldeo area when an ambulance jumped the median verge and collided with a car head-on.Police suspect the driver of the bus, who was among those who died, had dozed off at the wheel. The long-distance overnight sleeper carriage, operated by a private company, had left from Madaripur in Jalaun at 9pm on Thursday.The accident happened when it was passing by Rabupura in Greater Noida, just 50km ahead of Faridabad, its destination.According to an expressway patrol team, a passerby informed them of the accident on the Agra-Noida carriageway in a helpline call that was made at 5.04am. “One RPV (route patrol vehicle) and two ambulances were dispatched to the spot. We also informed police and the nearby Kailash Hospital,” said Santosh Pawar, a representative of the Yamuna Expressway patrolling team. “The impact of the collision was such that the front portion of the bus was smashed. We had to break the windowpanes to get the passengers out. All passengers were taken to Kailash Hospital in Jewar,” he added.The driver of the bus, Mahesh Kumar (48), was from Dholpur in Rajasthan. The others who died were Bandu (25), also from Dholpur, Vineeta (32), Arun (42), Suman (35), Vishwanath Tiwari (25) and Anand (32) — all from Jalaun — and Asad (12) from Auraiyya district in UP.Noida police chief Vaibhav Krishna said, “Prima facie, we are presuming the bus was speeding while the truck was moving slowly. We are presuming the (bus) driver lost control of the vehicle or he had dozed off while driving.” The speed limit for buses on the expressway is 100kmph. The bus (UP 86 T 1707) belonged to an agency named Bhagwati Travels.Krishna said a case has been registered against the driver of the truck (RJ 05 GB 3519) who fled after the accident.A spokesperson for Kailash Hospital said of the 28 injured, seven were critical and were admitted to intensive care. Others are being treated for minor injuries. “Most patients are in trauma. Seven are critical and are in the ICU. As of now, a patient named Pradeep (Hanumant) is the most critical,” said a hospital spokesperson.

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