Fire on sleeper bus kills nine outside of Delhi

Nine passengers were killed late on Wednesday after an overnight sleeper bus caught fire outside of the national capital, New Delhi, according to media reports.

A police report, cited by the media, said the bus' air conditioning unit caused the fire while on the Yamuna Expressway in Greater Noida.

Police added that the bus driver and conductor managed to escape the fire and are have absconded.

A passenger who managed to escape the tragedy told ANI news agency that the bus was packed with passengers.

"I was sleeping when someone woke me up saying the bus had caught fire, and we all scrambled to get out," the passenger said. "It was not an easy situation to escape, there was a lot of smoke. We somehow managed to get out."

The police are investigating the incident.

This is the latest in similar incidents of deadly fires on buses:

March 2026: At least 13 people died in a bus accident in Andhra Pradesh

October 2025: At least 20 people died after a bus caught fire following a collision with a motorcycle in Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh

October 2025: A bus fire in Rajasthan killed at least 20 people and left around 16 others seriously injured

April 2025: At least 25 people died and eight others were injured after the bus they were traveling in caught fire on an expressway in Maharashtra

Hi, this is Shakeel from DW's New Delhi studio bringing you the latest updates from across India.

Nine passengers were killed late on Wednesday when their overnight sleeper bus caught fire just outside Delhi.

Meanwhile, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) filed a nearly 70,000-page chargesheet against eight people arrested in connection with the Ram Temple donation embezzlement case on Wednesday.