A taxi carrying a family of five caught fire on the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway in Alwar district, Rajasthan, late Wednesday night. All five passengers were charred to death. The driver survived by jumping out of the burning vehicle.
The family was returning home to Sheopur in Madhya Pradesh after visiting the Vaishno Devi Temple in Jammu and Kashmir. They had hired the taxi specifically for the temple trip. The cause of the fire is currently under investigation, as cited by Hindustan Times.
The victims
As per the report of Hindustan Times, local police officer Neki Ram identified four of the five victims. They were Santosh Kumar, 35; his wife Shashi, 33; his mother-in-law Parvati, 50; and his daughter Ragni, 13.
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The fifth passenger, a woman, had not been identified at the time of reporting.
What happened?
Police said on Thursday that all five passengers were found dead inside the burning car by the time a team rushed to the scene. A National Highway Authority of India patrol alerted the fire brigade, which arrived to extinguish the blaze. The bodies were subsequently sent to Alwar District Hospital mortuary for post-mortem examination.
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Driver Vinod Kumar Mehar escaped by jumping out of the vehicle as it burned. He was taken to Alwar district hospital, where doctors referred him to Jaipur for further treatment. Police confirmed that the cause of the fire remains under investigation, as reported by Hindustan Times.
