Bharatpur/Dausa, July 2 -- Eight people died and 11 others injured after a bus travelling from Rishikesh to Indore rammed into a trailer and caught fire on the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway in Rajasthan's Dausa district in the early hours of Wednesday, officials said. The accident took place around 2.30 am near Dhanawda in the Kolwa police station area. The bus was carrying around 37 passengers, they said. According to officials, the driver allegedly lost control and hit a trailer moving ahead of the bus. The impact triggered a fire that quickly engulfed the vehicle. Police, firefighters and district officials rushed to the spot and launched a rescue operation. The injured were shifted to the district hospital, where eight passengers were declared dead while 11 are undergoing treatment, police said. Dausa superintendent of police (SP) Piyush Dixit and district collector Dr Saumya Jha reached the accident site to oversee rescue operations. "There were around 37 passengers on board. Prima facie, it appears that the driver lost control of the bus and hit the trailer. The bus caught fire immediately after the collision," Jha said. She said around 18 passengers were rescued safely and discharged after receiving first-aid treatment. "The administration has issued a helpline number for the families of the victims. The bodies are yet to be identified," she said. SP Dixit said, "Six passengers were burnt beyond recognition while two others died of severe head injuries. Samples from the charred bodies have been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory for DNA analysis to establish their identities." The district administration has constituted an eight-member committee comprising officials from the police, transport, magistracy, medical and health, and public works departments to investigate the cause of the accident, district officials said. Rajasthan chief minister Bhajan Lal Sharma on Wednesday expressed deep sorrow over the loss of lives in the accident. In a post on X, CM Sharma said, "The news of loss of lives in the road accident on the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway in Dausa is heart-wrenching. May God grant place to the departed souls at His holy feet and bestow strength upon the bereaved families to bear this immense sorrow. I pray for the swift recovery of the injured." Congress MP from Dausa Murari Lal Meena also visited the site. He said, "Eight people have died and of the 11 injured, one critically injured passenger has been referred to Jaipur. Most of the passengers are from Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra." One of the injured, Chandra Prakash Gupta of Indore, said he was travelling with his wife from Rishikesh. "After the accident, I heard people screaming for help and running away. The locals rescued me by breaking a window pane. After coming out, I searched everywhere for my wife but couldn't find her." Chandra Prakash was admitted to hospital for treatment. A 35-year-old Jitendra Pandey from Khargone saw his wife Priyanka , 33, burning alive in the bus. "There was screaming and chaos on the bus. I had my son with me. My wife got stuck in her seat. I got down to leave my son outside the bus but before I stepped in to save my wife, the bus caught fire," he said, while raising questions about the condition of emergency exits and other safety measures on the bus and demanding an investigation. He added that most passengers were asleep when the accident occurred. The bus left Haridwar around 5 pm on Tuesday, he said. Meanwhile, a 20-year-old Bhumi Bhor is missing after the accident. Her father Bharat Bhor said she had gone to Mussoorie with her friends. "Bhumi was pursuing an engineering degree at LNT College. She was very excited for her trip and now this happened. We want fair probe in the matter and strict action should be taken against the bus operator," the father added....