NEW DELHI, India (AP) -- A bus overturned and caught fire in central India on Wednesday, killing 21 people and seriously injuring 28 others, police said.
The bus lost control after a tire burst outside the industrial town of Maneri in the Madhya Pradesh state, said Arakshya Kailash Varma, aide to the local police chief.
A gas can placed behind the driver's seat then caught fire, Varma said by telephone from Jabalpur, the nearby town of Jabalpur, 400 miles southeast of New Delhi.
``The bus turned upside down. Then the fire started. All the bodies are totally black and unrecognizable,'' Varma said
Victims of the 5 p.m. accident were brought to Jabalpur hospitals, where weeping relatives converged.
The mangled bus lay by the roadside, Varma said. All the bodies were removed.
Few other details were immediately available from the remote area.
Buses are the most popular means of transport in rural India. However, many are in rickety condition, driven recklessly and overcrowded.
