25 passengers were burned to death after a bus burst into flames on the Samruddhi Expressway in Maharashtra's Buldhana district on Saturday, the Press Trust of India reports, citing police.

The private bus was en route from Nagpur to Pune when the accident occurred around 01:30 local time near Sindkhedraja in the Buldhana district, police say.

Buldhana police head Sunil Kadasane said that according to preliminary information, the bus had a tire burst, after which it crashed into a pole.

Of the 33 passengers on the bus, 25 were burned alive.

The remaining eight passengers were rushed to a nearby hospital and are safe, he added.