India, Dec. 2 -- Three passengers were burnt alive and 24 others sustained severe burn injuries after a Delhi-bound private bus caught fire following a violent collision with a truck loaded with winter garments in Uttar Pradesh's Balrampur district late on Monday, senior police officials said on Tuesday.

Six of the injured are critical and have been referred to Bahraich Medical College.

According to local police, the bus, carrying 45 passengers - most of them Nepal nationals - had departed from Sonauli near the Nepal border and was en route to Delhi. The accident took place on the Phulwaria bypass under Kotwali Dehat police station limits around 2:30am. Survivors alerted the police, and multiple fire brigade teams rushed to the spot, ba...