At least 18 migrant workers sleeping on an Indian highway killed after a truck rammed into their broken down bus 

• At least 30 people were injured in the crash near Barabanki in Uttar Pradesh
• Police said the bus had broken down on its route to Bihar state and was parked at the side of a highway when it was hit by a truck whose driver fled the scene
• Bus was seriously overcrowded and many passengers were sleeping outside as they were told the bus would not be repaired until the morning 
• Rescue operations are ongoing and the injured have been taken to hospital 

At least 18 people have been killed and 30 injured after a truck struck an overcrowded double-decker bus in northern India on Wednesday. 

The crash happened on a highway near Barabanki in central Uttar Pradesh at around 12:45 am, Baranbanki Superintendent of Police Yamuna Prasad said. 

'The collision was so bad that 16 people died on the spot while two others succumbed to their injuries in the hospital,' said Prasad told The Associated Press (AP) news agency. 

Some of the passengers, mostly labourers from another state, had been sleeping next to the bus, which was parked at the side of the highway after breaking down on its route to the northern state of Bihar. 

Since the bus was overcrowded, many passengers were sleeping on the road as they were told the bus would only be repaired in the morning, Prasad said. 

Rescue operations are still ongoing, police said, adding that the driver of the truck fled the scene. 

Earlier, Prasad told Reuters news agency that the bus had been 'overloaded and had about 150 passengers in it' at the time of the collision. 

He told the BBC that there were around 140 passengers on the bus, which he said had a capacity of 65. 

He said the injured had been taken to a hospital in the state capital Lucknow for treatment.  

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed condolences over the deaths on Twitter.                

'Deeply saddened by the news of the road accident in Barabanki, UP. My condolences to the bereaved families.'

'Arrangements are being made for proper treatment of all the injured comrades,' he wrote. 

Modi said families of the victims would receive £1,936 in compensation, while injured passengers would get £485. 

People from Bihar often move to more prosperous states for work, using cheap public transport options to travel home when possible, the BBC reported.

More than 110,000 people are killed every year in road accidents across India, according to police. 

Most crashes are blamed on reckless driving, poorly maintained roads and ageing vehicles.