30 killed in Karnataka bus accident

BANGALORE - At least 30 people, including 10 children, were charred to death when the bus they were travelling in fell into a roadside pit and caught fire in the early hours of Sunday in Karnataka’s Chitradurga district, police said.

The bus was on the way to Bangalore from Surpur in Gulbarga district when it hit a stone and fell into the pit at Challakere, some 200 km from here. It caught immediately fire and most of the victims were charred, police said.

The bus belonged to the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation.

Besides 10 children, the dead included 15 women. Several of the remaining 29 passengers suffered burns and were being treated at hospitals in nearby Chitradurga town.

Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa expressed shock and grief over the tragedy and announced Rs.100,000 as immediate compensation to the families of the dead and Rs.25,000 to the injured.