Greater Noida, Sept. 25 -- Nine passengers were killed and a woman injured after a Bihar-registered AC sleeper bus carrying 35 people caught fire on the Yamuna Expressway near Greater Noida late Wednesday night, with survivors describing a rapidly spreading blaze that trapped passengers inside the vehicle. The fire broke out around 11pm near the 33-km mark close to Dayanatpur village in Jewar as the bus was travelling from Delhi's Kashmere Gate to Mahoba in Uttar Pradesh. While 26 passengers managed to escape, nine were trapped inside and died. Two drivers and the conductor, who escaped from the bus, were later arrested. Two emergency exits -- one at the rear and another on the right side -- were found closed when firefighters reached the spot, and they had to cut open the left side of the bus near the entrance to retrieve the bodies. The incident is the latest in a series of deadly fires involving sleeper buses on Indian highways, renewing questions over the safety of the increasingly common long-distance coaches. The Union government told Parliament in December 2025 that at least 64 people had died in 45 incidents of buses catching fire while in operation over the preceding three years. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had separately asked state governments to take action against sleeper buses violating fire-safety norms. A preliminary transport department investigation has suspected a short circuit as the cause of the fire, while police have said a spark or blast in the bus's air-conditioning system may have ignited engine lubricating oil. Officials said the exact cause was still being investigated. But an FIR filed on the complaint of a passenger has alleged that passengers noticed a burning smell before the fire erupted and informed the driver and conductor, who allegedly failed to stop the bus. The allegations are part of the case against the driver and conductor and have not been independently established. Virendra Kumar Singh, a resident of Orai in Jalaun who was travelling on the bus, told HT that the conductor initially asked passengers to vacate the vehicle and returned moments later shouting that there was a fire. "I was using my mobile phone when the bus conductor came inside and shouted, 'Vacate the bus.' Within 30 seconds, he anxiously entered again and shouted, 'Fire has broken out. Vacate the bus,'" Singh said. Singh was seated in the upper berth in the front row. He said the fire appeared to have started near the driver and spread rapidly towards the rear. "I found that the fire had broken out in the ignition next to the driver. As it was the only option to escape, chaos erupted inside the bus and people started pushing each other desperately to come out," he said. "Within a minute or two, the fire spread from front to back and we heard people banging on the windows for help. However, within minutes, as thick smoke filled the cabin, the cries stopped," he said. Singh alleged that neither the driver nor conductor told passengers about the emergency exits or provided equipment to break the windows. "When we were standing outside, another passenger bus stopped nearby and we broke the windows using iron rods," he said. He also alleged that fire services reached the spot around 40 minutes after the fire broke out. The fire department disputed the delay. Pradeep Kumar Chaubey, chief fire officer, Gautam Budh Nagar, said the department received information around 11.30pm after a passerby posted about the incident on X. "No one among the passengers or locals informed us. Initially, they tried to extinguish the fire themselves, but when it went out of control, they started calling emergency services," Chaubey said. "Within six to eight minutes, fire tenders from Jewar toll plaza and Jewar fire station rushed to the spot," he said. Chaubey said it took about two hours to completely control the fire because the diesel tank had also caught fire, causing the flames to engulf the bus. A police officer involved in the rescue operation said six bodies were found in the aisle between the seats and three on different seats. The bodies were badly charred, making identification difficult, he said. Police said the travel company's passenger list showed 35 people on board, of whom 26 escaped. Rekha Bharadwaj of Hisar, Haryana, who was travelling with her husband Devendra, was injured and taken to hospital. She was discharged after preliminary treatment, but Devendra died in the fire. By Thursday evening, police had identified six of the deceased - three women, Shruti Rawat, in her 30s, and Usha Devi and Saroj, aged 62 and 52; and three men, Harisharan (55), Devendra Bharadwaj (60) and Mayank Gupta (28). Efforts were underway to identify the remaining victims, said Jewar SHO Ajay Kumar Singh. HT also found that the bodies were taken to the mortuary in two loading autos in the absence of ambulances. Police said the bus had two drivers, Pawan Kumar and Yogesh Dixit, and a conductor, Rohit Kumar, all in their 20s and residents of Kanpur Dehat. They escaped after the fire but were later arrested from a nearby area. A case was registered at Jewar police station on the complaint of passenger Sunil Kumar, 20, a resident of Mahoba, under Sections 281, 125(b), 105 and 351(3) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against the driver and conductor. In his complaint, Kumar alleged that passengers had noticed the smell of smoke and informed the driver and conductor, but they ignored the warning and continued travelling. He alleged that the fire later erupted near the driver's cabin, trapping several passengers inside. The tragedy follows several other serious fires involving sleeper buses. In December 2025, at least 13 people were killed in a multi-vehicle pile-up on the Yamuna Expressway in Mathura after fog reduced visibility and successive crashes triggered a fire. The collision involved three cars and seven buses, six of them sleeper coaches. Rescuers later said passengers trapped in narrow berths amid smoke and flames faced difficulties in escaping. Two months earlier, in October 2025, 20 people were killed after a sleeper bus caught fire in Andhra Pradesh's Kurnool district after it was hit by a motorcycle from behind. Ten days earlier, a private AC sleeper bus travelling from Jaisalmer to Jodhpur caught fire, killing 26 people. There have also been incidents in which passengers escaped with fewer or no fatalities. On December 18, 2025, around 40 students from Tamil Nadu escaped unharmed after their bus caught fire in Dehradun. On November 27, passengers suffered injuries after a Delhi-Varanasi bus caught fire in Kanpur. The incidents have prompted official scrutiny. In a written reply to Parliament on December 18, the Union government said 64 people had died in 45 incidents of buses catching fire while in operation over the preceding three years. On November 27, the NHRC wrote to the chief secretaries of states seeking action against sleeper buses that violated fire-safety norms. According to police, 61 challans had been issued against the bus between January 17, 2024, and August 19, 2026, of which 20, involving fines totalling Rs.1.79 lakh, were pending. The bus was registered in Madhubani, Bihar, while its office was located in Madhya Pradesh. Its origin point was Delhi's Kashmere Gate, while its fitness certificate had been issued in Rajasthan. The transport department, however, said its preliminary investigation found the bus compliant with the applicable norms. "All the papers of the bus were complete, and no additional modifications were found inside the burnt structure of the bus. We investigated it from inside out. It is part of the investigation to determine why people were unable to exit through the two emergency doors," said Siyaram Verma, regional transport officer (Enforcement). "Prima facie it was suspected that fire broke out following short-circuit. However, investigation is underway to ascertain the exact cause. We have submitted our report to the government. If any lapse is found during the investigation, action will be taken accordingly," Verma said. The manager of Raj Kalpana Travels' Delhi office, who declined to identify himself, declined to comment on the incident. "I cannot share the details right now," he said before disconnecting the call, adding that the company would issue an official response. At around 4am, police arranged another bus to transport the surviving passengers to their destination....