LUCKNOW, Dec. 3 -- Three passengers were burnt alive and 24 others sustained burn injuries after a Delhi-bound private bus caught fire following a collision with a truck in Uttar Pradesh's Balrampur district after Monday midnight, senior police officials confirmed on Tuesday. They added that six of the injured are in critical condition and have been referred to Bahraich Medical College for treatment. According to local police officials, 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 occurred on the Phulwaria bypass under Kotwali Dehat police station limits around 2:30 am. Survivors alerted the police, and multiple fire brigade teams rushed to the spot, battling the blaze and rescuing those trapped. Ambulances transported the injured to hospitals. Eyewitnesses reported that the truck, loaded with winter garments, was speeding from the direction of the Phulwaria overbridge when it rammed directly into the middle of the bus at the Phulwaria crossing. "The impact was so severe that the bus skidded nearly 100 metres and crashed into an electric pole carrying high-tension power lines. The pole collapsed onto the bus, causing live wires to fall and triggering a short circuit," one of the eyewitnesses informed the local police. They added, "Within moments, the bus was engulfed in flames, trapping passengers inside. Several people managed to escape by smashing the windowpanes and jumping out." Panic and screams, they said, filled the area as the fire rapidly intensified. The truck also overturned due to the collision and soon caught fire, reportedly because of the garments loaded inside. After the flames were doused, three charred bodies were recovered from the bus, two of them burnt beyond recognition. Police said another severely burnt body was found beneath the overturned truck, likely belonging to someone traveling in it. The identities of the bus driver and conductor remain unknown, as both are missing after the crash. Police have launched an investigation into the cause of the accident and are continuing with relief and recovery operations....