Toll Rises to 21 After Boy’s Death; Four Remain on Ventilator in Jaisalmer Bus Tragedy

Toll Rises to 21 After Boy’s Death: On Wednesday, an eight-year-old boy who was struggling for his life at Jodhpur's MG Hospital died, raising the death toll in the Jaisalmer bus fire incident to 21; and four victims remain placed on ventilator support, said agencies.

DNA samples have been collected from the family members of the deceased for purposes of identifying the bodies, said agencies.

Fourteen individuals are still receiving treatment at the Jodhpur hospital, they said.

According to a spokesperson of the hospital, the child died during treatment today. "Four individuals are on ventilator support." A private AC sleeper bus traveling from Jaisalmer to Jodhpur caught fire about 10 minutes after leaving from the Jaisalmer bus station on Tuesday, resulting in 19 confirmed fatalities and 16 seriously sick individuals. One of the injured died from extensive burns from the same accident while en route to the hospital that same evening.

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According to a physician/editor from the hospital, the bodies will be returned to the family once they are identified.

Meanwhile, national convenor of the Rastriya Loktantrik Party and MP for Nagaur, Hanuman Beniwal, raised the question of why none of the critically injured victims of the bus fire were airlifted via the available helicopters from the military for treatment.

In a post on X, Beniwal made a comparison between the time it took to respond to the collapsed bus and how a helicopter was summoned and transferred Madan Rathore's sick wife from Pali to Jaipur the day before.

"I want to ask Rajasthan CM Bhajanlal Sharma when the state BJP president Madan Rathore's wife fell ill, you could arrange a helicopter to fly her from Pali to Jaipur but when several citizens were critically burnt in a horrific bus fire near Jaisalmer, why were not they airlifted to Jodhpur?" Beniwal asked.

"There were military helicopters/ planes available in Jaisalmer. You could have coordinated with central authorities and defence officials to ensure the victims were flown to Jodhpur or Jaipur for timely treatment," he said.

Beniwal accused the CM and BJP state president Madan Rathore of lack of sensitivity.

CM Sharma reached Jaisalmer last night by air, and he visited the incident site and talked with officials to give them directions.

Later he travelled to Jodhpur to meet the victim's family.

Early in the morning, Jaisalmer Additional SP Kailash Dan said the locked door in the bus was the main reason for fatalities in the incident.

You see Dan said the fire locked the door and led to it being the last to escape.

"Most of the bodies were found in the aisle of the bus, which shows that people tried to escape but couldn't because the door was stuck," he told PTI.

The bus went up in flames by the Army War Memorial and Army personnel responded quickly on site and helped with rescue. The crew had to pop the door off, while some passengers broke the window to escape. In addition to the popping the door, water from a passing water tank was eventually used to quell the flames.

Jaisalmer SP Abhishek Shivhare said that 19 charred remains were collected from the bus and that the 16 seriously injured were sent to Jodhpur.

Last night, we lost a passenger on route to Jodhpur.

"The bodies were sent to Jodhpur for DNA sampling and identification. They will be handed over to families after matching is confirmed by the Forensic Science Laboratory," he said.

The police official said officers are trying to determine how many passengers were on the bus at the time.

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According to the Additional SP, forensic teams have been examining the scene since the night of the incident. "Initial indications suggest a short circuit, though other possibilities like firecrackers in the bus are also being probed." A rescuer described the bus as a "fireball," leaving passengers little to no time to react. It was a newly registered bus, having only traveled four times before. The bus had left Jaisalmer at about 3 p.m. and was looking to pick up passengers as it traveled.

A police officer, quoting eyewitness reports, said there was a loud explosion that could be heard from the back of the bus. They believe the explosion was from the AC compressor. The fire was intensified with diesel and AC gas, as well as the fibre-based interior on the bus.

"There was only one door on the bus, which got jammed. Most passengers could not escape. The Army recovered what bodies they could, but some were burnt to ashes beyond recognition," Health Minister Gajendra Singh Khimsar said.

The initial investigation reveals the bus had no emergency exits, no hammers on the windows, and a narrow passageway that trapped passengers. When the wires piled up, the automatic locking mechanism for the exits closed trapping the passengers.

Many of the bodies were piled on each other when recovered.

An FIR against the bus owner and the bus driver has been registered in Jaisalmer.

In Jaipur, meanwhile, RTO officials had reportedly conducted a rigorous verification of private buses following the incident in Jaisalmer.

Officials said that the RTO teams checked all the documents of the buses and action was taken against violations.

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