Chennai, June 8 (IANS) At least 22 people, including five women, were charred to death when their bus fell into a pit and its diesel tank caught fire near Vellore district in Tamil Nadu, police said Wednesday.

 
 The Tirupur-bound bus fell into a pit near Vellore, around 120 km from here, at around 11.30 p.m. Tuesday in an attempt to avoid hitting another vehicle.
 
 Vellore district officials told IANS that only two people survived in the accident - a passenger and the bus driver, who surrendered to the police.
 
 Karthik Raja, the lone surviving passenger, said that he escaped the fire by breaking open one of the windows, but he couldn't save his wife, Smitha.