Barabanki, July 28 -- At least 18 passengers of a private double decker bus were killed and 24 others were injured in a bus-truck collision on Lucknow-Ayodhya highway in Barabanki district, the police said on Wednesday.

The accident happened on late Tuesday at around 0200 hrs when a speeding truck hit a stationary bus carrying around 115 passengers.

The bus was parked as its axle was broken at around midnight. The impact of the collision was so strong that 16 people died on the spot while two other succumbed to their injuries in a nearby hospital.

The ill fated bus was on its way to Bihar from Haryana and was mostly carrying labourers that were returning back to their native places.

The police said several passengers were sleeping und...