Lucknow, June 9 (IANS): A mass cremation was held on Friday for the 24 who died in a bus accident in Bareilly on June 5. With the bodies charred beyond recognition, the district administration decided to go ahead with mass cremation.
The bodies were piled together on funeral pyres and lit by the families. The DNAs have been preserved, an official said.
While 21 bodies were cremated, three were buried as they were children.
District magistrate Pinki Joval, SSP Jogendra Kumar and other senior officials were present at the cremation.
On June 4, a state-owned bus was hit by a truck at a national highway near Rajau Paraspur. Its fuel tank burst and before the passengers could deboard, the bus caught fire.
After a rescue operation that lasted more than eight hours, 24 bodies were pulled out of the bus.