The charred vehicles on the roadside. Telegraph picture

Alipurduar, May 14: Eleven persons were killed, six of them probably burnt alive, when a Maruti Omni collided head on with a bus on a national highway in Jalpaiguri.

All the 11 were in the car and on their way to Madarihat to finalise the wedding of Kiski Oraon.

The 22-year old woman has not yet been told that she has lost her parents, Andrias, 53, and Behani, 38, sister Nilima, 12, and three aunts, Dasi Oraon, 35, Krishna Tirkey, 48, and Agne Oraon, 45.

The passengers of the bus, on the way to a wedding, had a narrow escape as it rolled into a roadside ditch and also caught fire. There were around 15 people in the bus and they escaped with minor bruises.

A witness said the bus hit the Omni while making a futile attempt to avoid a cow. After the animal was mowed down, the bus collided with the car coming from the opposite direction and dragged it along for 150ft before both vehicles fell into the ditch.

The car burst into flames seconds later and the fire spread to the bus.

Local youths rushed to the car and pulled out five persons, three of them women. Only two of them made it alive to the health centre in Kalchini, 15km away. They died minutes later.

“The others died on the spot. Six of them were burnt alive,” said Pradeep Mochary, who saw the accident take place.

The others who died were identified as Karman Kujur, 50, Rimni Oraon, 34, Silitina Oraon, 48, — all Kiski’s relatives — her neighbour Binod Toppo, 45, and the driver of the car, Binod Suttar, 25.

The family lived in Jaidebpur Basti, 85km from Uttar Mendabari, where the crash took place. The area is about 30km from Alipurduar town.

Fire brigade and police personnel from Hasimara and Kalchini reached the spot within 20 minutes and brought out six bodies.

By that time, the bus passengers had been brought out through windows and windscreens, which were smashed.

The fire was brought under control in 40 minutes.

Sabyasachi Raman Misra, the Alipurduar additional superintendent of police, said: “The bus passengers left after that. We have no clue where they went.”