With the recovery of eight more bodies, the toll in Friday night's bus accident in Bahraich district of Uttar Pradesh has gone up to 16. Another 12 persons were seriously injured. The mishap occurred when a bus carrying pilgrims to Ajmer collided head-on with a truck on Gonda-Bahraich road near Chilwaria village and caught fire. District Magistrate Kinjal Singh said the bus caught fire possibly due to the explosion of a cooking gas cylinder inside the vehicle. She said a magisterial inquiry had been ordered which will establish the exact cause of the accident. Though Kinjal declined to specify how many people were inside the 54-seater bus, Chief Development Officer of the district Sukhlal Bharti said there were about 60 to 70 people on board. However, one of the rescued passengers said that there were about 80 people in the bus when the accident took place.Rescuers had used gas-cutters to cut open the twisted metal of the bus to pull out bodies and survivors from inside the vehicle.Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has expressed his grief sorrow over the accident and loss of life. AIR Allahabad correspondent reports that after visiting hospital where injured are admitted, Labour Minister of the state Dr. Waquar Ahemad Shah announced that Rs 1 lakh will be given to the kith and kin of every killed pilgrim while Rs 50,000 will be provided to the seriously injured. He said the Government would insure proper and free of cost treatment to the pilgrims