4-yr-old charred to death as bus catchesfire on Agra–Mumbai highway in Ujjain

Ujjain: A four-year-old child was charred to death after a sleeper bus caught fire late on Thursday while it was parked at a hotel along the Agra–Mumbai National Highway in Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain district, police said. More than 50 passengers were on board.The incident occurred in the Tarana area when the intercity bus, travelling from Indore to Gwalior, stopped at a hotel — about 20 kilometres from Shajapur town — for refreshments when smoke began rising from the bonnet. Within minutes, fire engulfed the vehicle.Tarana SHO RNS Bhaduria said the incident took place around 15 km from the police station. The bus driver had kept the engine running. The fire was most probably caused due to a spark near the engine.Panic broke out as passengers broke windows to escape. However, four-year-old Anya Jain was trapped under a seat during the chaos and could not get out. His body was recovered later after the fire was brought under control.The child’s father, Abhishek Jain, who was travelling with his wife and two children to Shivpuri, said the bus had neither an emergency exit nor a fire extinguisher. “My child burnt to death. No other child should die like this. My future has been burnt,” he said. He also alleged that the first fire engine to arrive had no water.Firefighters from Maksi, Tarana, and Shajapur rushed to the spot and eventually doused the flames. Police said the bus driver and cleaner fled after the incident.The body was sent for post-mortem, and a case has been registered. An investigation is underway to determine the exact cause of the fire.Divisional transport officer Santosh Malviya told TOI that all the documents related to the bus were in order. The vehicle was registered in Gwalior in 2024. “The Gwalior RTO will take further action on the bus,” he added.Meanwhile, the postmortem examination of the boy was performed, and the body was handed over to the family.