As many as 25 passengers on a private bus were charred to death in the wee hours of Saturday, July 1, after their bus caught fire on Samruddhi Expressway. The incident happened in Buldhana district. While exact reason of the accident is yet to be ascertained, the cops suspect that the bus which was on its way from Nagpur to Pune hit a pole and rammed into divider and turned turtle eventually causing it to catch fire. Meanwhile, the bus driver claimed that the accident happened after a tyre burst. There were at least 34 passengers in the bus, an official said, adding the eight passengers who survived were admitted to nearby hospital. Prime Minister Narendra Modi--while condoling the death of 26 passengers travelling in a private bus--announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakhs for the kin of deceased and announced Rs 50,000 for the injured persons. In a tweet PMO said that the aid will be given from PM National Relef Fund. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde expressed deep grief over the accident. He condoled the deaths and concurrently annouced an aid of Rs 5 lakhs from the Chief Minister`s Relief Fund to the kin of deceased. Meanwhile, Dy CM Fadnavis also condoled the incident and deaths and informed the media that he and the CM will be visitng the site and meet the survivors in the hospital soon.