Mathura, 16 Dec

Thirteen people died of burns, and 35 sustained injuries when a vehicle pile-up on the Yamuna Expressway here early Tuesday sparked a big fire, a police officer said.

At least seven buses and three smaller vehicles collided with each other in the dense fog around 4.30 am, the officer said.

The incident occurred under the Baldev Police Station jurisdiction.

"The vehicles collided due to low visibility on the Agra-to-Noida side of the Yamuna Expressway. Some vehicles also caught fire. All injured have been sent to the hospital," Mathura Senior Superintendent of Police Shlok Kumar said.

Two of the deceased were identified as 44-year-old Akhilendra Pratap Yadav, a resident of Prayagraj, and 75-year-old Rampal, from Maharajganj district, Baldev Police Station SHO Ranjana Sachan said.

All 13 died of burns, she said.

Of the injured ,15 were admitted to the district hospital, nine each to a community health centre and a private hospital in Baldev, and two to SN Medical College, Agra, Sachan said.

Visuals from the spot revealed charred remains of buses that caught fire.

Cranes were called in to remove them from the road.

According to a Mathura Police statement on X, the pile-up at Milestone 127 involved seven buses and three smaller vehicles.

"None of the injured are in critical condition," it said.

The passengers were sent to their destinations in government vehicles, the SSP said. Since the road is blocked, diversions have been made, he added.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, in a post on X in Hindi, expressed his condolences to the kin of the deceased.

"The loss of life in the road accident on the Yamuna Expressway in Mathura district is extremely tragic and heartbreaking. My deepest condolences are with the bereaved families," he said.

"I have instructed the district administration officials to ensure proper treatment for the injured. I pray to Lord Ram to grant peace to the departed souls and a speedy recovery to the injured," Adityanath said.

According to a post from his office, Adityanath announced Rs 2 lakh each to the kin of the deceased, and Rs 50,000 each to the injured.

On Monday, fog led to the deaths of three people, two of them police officers, in two separate road accidents involving multiple vehicles in Haryana's Sonipat and Nuh districts.

In the Nuh pileup, two people, including a CISF Inspector, were killed on the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway.

In Sonipat, a female assistant sub-inspector of police was killed when the car in which she was travelling for work hit a truck that was taking a wrong turn on the highway, police said.