An Uttar Pradesh roadways bus fell into a drain on Yamuna Expressway, resulting in the loss of lives of 29 people and leaving several others injured on Monday morning. [caption id=“attachment_6952691” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] At least 29 people have died in a bus accident in Uttar Pradesh. Sameer Qureshi[/caption] The double-decker bus belonged to Awadh Depot and was going to New Delhi from Lucknow. As per initial reports as many as 50 people were on board when the bus fell into the drain. Police have reached the spot and rescue operation has begun to take out the trapped passengers. Reportedly, the bus began its journey at 10 pm on Sunday and the incident occurred at around 4:30 am early on Monday morning. At the time of the accident, most of the passengers were sleeping so no one was able to raise an alarm, sources said. The bus was straightened using a crane around two hours after the accident, after which the bodies stuck under the bus were removed. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has expressed his grief and condolences on the death of passengers and directed the District Magistrate and Senior Superintendent of Police to provide all possible medical attention to the injured. UP State Roadways Transport Corporation has announced an ex-gratia of Rs five lakh to the families of the deceased. Agra’s District Magistrate NG Ravi Kumar said, “The incident took place around 4:30 am. The driver probably dozed off and the speeding bus broke our barrier & fell in the drain. Search operation underway.” Yogi Adityanath has ordered an inquiry by a committee consisting of Transport Commissioner, Divisional Commissioner and IG Agra to investigate the incident in 24 hours and give a report on the cause of the incident and on long term recommendations to avoid such accidents. He has asked his deputy Dinesh Sharma and Minister of State for Transport Swatantra Dev Singh to immediately visit the accident site. The committee, comprising the transport commissioner, divisional commissioner and an inspector general of police, will investigate the incident in 24 hours, the chief minister has directed. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh tweeted that BJP state general secretary Pankaj Singh has gone to the spot. “I convey my condolences and pray for the speedy recovery of those injured. I have spoken to CM Yogi Adityanath about it. He has sent Deputy CM Dinesh Sharma and Transport Minister Swatantra Dev Singh to the spot,” he said. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also condoled the death of the 29 passengers. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took to Facebook to express his grief about the accident on Yamuna Expressway.“I express my deepest condolences to the families of those who died in the accident. I wish for the speedy recovery of the injured,” he said in a Facebook post. Prime minister Narendra Modi also took to Twitter to condole the incident. <amp-img src="https://images.firstpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Daily-Data_8-July-1.jpg?im=FitAndFill=(340,192)" alt="Daily Data_8 July (1)" layout="fill"></amp-img> With inputs from various agencies