At least nine people were killed when a double-decker sleeper bus caught fire on the Noida Expressway in India’s national capital region on Wednesday. The incident occurred around 11 p.m. as the bus was traveling from Kashmere Gate in Delhi to Mahoba in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. According to police, the fire began after the vehicle had traveled about 33 kilometers. A spark from the air-conditioning system ignited the engine’s lubricating oil, quickly spreading the flames through the bus. Passengers were forced to scramble for safety, with some jumping out of the moving vehicle to escape the intense heat and smoke. Eyewitnesses and passengers reported that the smell of burning had been noticed earlier, prompting some to ask the driver to stop. However, the driver reportedly dismissed their concerns, stating that such smells are common on buses. A passenger named Sunil Kumar later told the police that the driver did not take their warnings seriously. The fire erupted suddenly under the driver’s seat and spread rapidly, engulfing the bus in thick smoke. By the time the driver stopped the vehicle, it was already too late for some passengers. There were 35 people on board, and nine of them, including a woman, were unable to escape, according to police officer Ajay Kumar Singh. Several passengers described the chaotic scene as the fire broke out. One survivor told the news agency ANI that many were asleep when the fire started. “I was sleeping when someone woke me up saying the bus had caught fire, and we all scrambled to get out,” the passenger said. “It was not an easy situation to escape. There was a lot of smoke. We somehow managed to get out. The bus was packed with passengers.” Another passenger, identified as Rinki, said the fire appeared to have started near the driver’s seat. “It was on the front side, near the driver, where the driver sits,” she said. “The smoke was so thick that people could barely see anything. We were suffocating inside.” The driver, Pawan, and the conductor, Yogesh, were later arrested by authorities. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath expressed their condolences to the victims’ families. Both leaders announced financial assistance, offering Rs 200,000 (approximately $2,700) to the families of the deceased and Rs 50,000 (around $675) to the injured. The prime minister’s office issued a statement expressing distress over the tragedy and praying for the recovery of the injured.