LUCKNOW, Feb. 24 -- Three children were among five passengers killed when an overcrowded double-decker private bus overturned near the Purvanchal Expressway toll plaza in Lucknow on Monday afternoon, sending 45 others to the hospital and triggering a large-scale rescue operation.

The bus, bearing a Haryana registration number, was travelling from Ludhiana in Punjab to Darbhanga in Bihar with approximately 85 passengers on board when it lost control and overturned around 3 pm, deputy commissioner of police (DCP) South Zone Nipun Agarwal.

Preliminary accounts suggest the vehicle was moving at over 80 kmph at the time, police said.

"The driver and cleaner allegedly fled the scene immediately after the crash. The driver, identified as Somp...