At least 25 people were killed and eight others injured when a bus caught fire overnight on an expressway in India’s Maharashtra state, police said today.

“There were 30 to 35 people on the bus. Twenty-five people were killed and eight more injured,” said Baburao Mahamuni, a police official, explaining that three children were among the dead.

The bus was heading towards Pune city when it hit a pole after midnight and overturned, causing a fire, he added.

The injured, including the bus driver, have been taken to a nearby hospital, while the police have launched an investigation into the cause of the accident.

“The priority right now is to identify the bodies and hand them over to their families,” police inspector Sunil Kandasane said.

Images broadcast by the media first showed the bus in flames and then the charred vehicle.

“Deeply saddened by the horrific bus accident in Buldhana,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted. “My thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who lost their lives. I wish the injured a speedy recovery,” he added.

Accidents are frequent on India’s vast road network, which is poorly maintained and notoriously dangerous.

Some of the main causes of accidents are excessive speed, the absence of a helmet – in a country where sales of two-wheelers exceed those of cars – or the absence of a seat belt.

A World Bank report published in 2021 states that 11% of global road traffic deaths are recorded in India, while the country has only 1% of the world’s vehicles.

According to the report, 150,000 road accidents are recorded every year in India, which means that one person is killed in a road accident every four minutes.