Several houseboats on Dal lake in Jammu and Kashmir’s Srinagar were reduced to ashes in a massive fire early this morning, the police said.

Police said the fire broke out at a houseboat near Ghat number 9 of Dal lake, which quickly spread and engulfed other houseboats.

While five houseboats have been completely destroyed, several others suffered damage, officials said.

“There were no immediate reports of injuries or loss of lives in the fire,” they said.

Police said the cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. 

At least five persons were killed and about 60 passengers injured when a state government bus and an omnibus collided head-on on the Chennai-Bengaluru national highway in the early hours of Saturday, police said.

The front portion of the two vehicles were completely smashed. Police who rushed to the spot helped the injured reach hospitals in about ten ambulances, said an official.

Four persons including a woman were killed initially when the State Express Transport Corporation bus proceeding to Chennai from Bengaluru collided with the Bengaluru-bound omnibus from Chennai at Chettiyappanur near here.

Rithika, 32 of Guduvanchery, Mohammed Firoz, 37, of Vaniyambadi, SETC bus driver K Elumalai, 47, and B Ajith, 25, of Chittoor died on the spot while the omnibus driver N Syed succumbed later, said police.

“The accident occured at about 4 am. The SETC bus hit the median and collided with the omnibus leading to the mishap,” a police official said.

The injured were admitted to the Vaniyambadi government hospital in Tirupattur district and the Government Medical College Hospital in Vellore.

Former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Saturday reached his residence from Tihar Jail to meet his ailing wife after permission from a city court.

Manish Sisodia, who is in jail in connection with the alleged liquor scam case, was allowed to meet his wife for six hours between 10 am and 4 pm.

Manish Sisodia accompanied by the police personnel reached his home on Mathura Road in a prison van at around 10 am.

In June too he was granted permission by the Delhi High Court to meet his wife Seema, who suffers from multiple sclerosis. However, he could not meet her as she was hospitalised after a sudden deterioration in her condition.

The court while permitting Mr Sisodia to meet his wife ordered him not to talk to the media or indulge in any political activity.

A senior leader of AAP, Mr Sisodia held the post of deputy chief minister besides holding various portfolios, including the Excise Department, in the Arvind Kejriwal government before his arrest by the CBI in February.

He resigned as deputy Chief Minister and minister of different departments after being arrested but his family lived at his then-official residence on Mathura Road sharing it with Education Minister Atishi.

Recently, Manish Sisodia’s bail application in the case was rejected by the Supreme Court.