Lucknow, May 26 : Five people lost their lives while several were left injured after a bus packed with passengers travelling from Delhi to Bihar lost control and overturned in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao on Tuesday, officials said.

The accident occurred early on Tuesday within the Auras Police Station jurisdiction in Unnao.

Upon receiving the information, police and rescue officials immediately reached the spot. Officials said that there were over 30 passengers on board the bus at the time of the accident.

While five people died on the spot, several others sustained severe injuries after falling off the expressway, officials said.

They added that the critically injured have been referred to the Lucknow Trauma Centre for further treatment.

The police said that the preliminary investigation suggests that the accident occurred because the driver fell asleep at the wheel.

The incident occurred at the 262-kilometre mark of the Agra-Lucknow Expressway, within the jurisdiction of the Auras police station.

In a separate accident, four pilgrims died while three others were seriously injured as a car en route to Kainchi Dham crashed into the rear of a trailer in Barabanki on the Sultanpur-Lucknow Expressway.

According to the officials, the incident took place near Bhikhra village in the Haidergarh Police Station area at around 2:00 a.m. on Tuesday.

The car was completely wrecked following the collision.

The injured were taken to the Community Health Centre and were subsequently referred to the KGMU Trauma Centre, officials said.

This comes close on the heels of another accident in Barabanki on May 23, when a speeding dumper truck crushed four members of a family, including three children, sleeping by the roadside.

The accident occurred on the Fatehpur-Bhanoli road near the village of Jhansa, located within the Fatehpur Kotwali police station area of Barabanki.

The accident claimed the lives of a man and his three children, while his wife and the children's mother sustained critical injuries.

/IANS