Nine passengers were killed after a private bus travelling from Delhi to Mahoba in Uttar Pradesh caught fire on the Yamuna Expressway near Jewar late Wednesday night, officials said. Several other passengers sustained burn injuries and were taken to Kailash Hospital in Jewar.

The FIR was registered at Jewar police station on a complaint by Suneel Kumar, a Hamirpur resident who was travelling on the Raj Kalpana Travels bus. He said around 30-35 passengers were on board when the bus left Kashmere Gate in Delhi around 9 pm.

According to the complaint, passengers noticed a burning smell from the driver's cabin around 11.30 pm when the bus reached the 33-km mark on the expressway. They alerted the driver and conductor and asked them to stop and check the source, but the driver and conductor allegedly did not stop or inspect the cabin. The complaint alleged that the driver and conductor continued smoking bidis and cigarettes in the cabin and dismissed the passengers' concerns, saying such a smell was common in the bus.

The FIR alleges the driver refused to stop despite the warnings and said he would not stop and did not care if the passengers died. Flames suddenly erupted near the driver's seat, according to the FIR.