As many as 19 passengers were burnt alive as a private Volvo bus carrying over 40 people caught fire after hitting a two-wheeler in Andhra Pradesh's Kurnool in the wee hours of Friday. The Volvo bus belonging to a private travel operator was registered in Odisha and was heading to Bengaluru from Hyderabad when it met with the accident near Chinnatekur village on the outskirts of Kurnool at around 3.30 a.m.
Police said 21 passengers survived as they managed to escape through the emergency door and broke glass windows to get out. A couple of passengers remained untraced. The bus belonging to Vkaveri Travels had 43 people on board, including two drivers. The passengers included 10 women and two children.
Kurnool District Collector A. Siri told media persons at the scene of the mishap that out of the 41 people on board, they have traced 21. As many as 11 of these 21 were taken to hospitals in Kurnool. The condition of all the injured was stable.
The bus began its journey from Hyderabad around 10.30 p.m., and when it was close to Kurnool on National Highway 44 (NH-44), at around 3:30 am, a two-wheeler rammed into the bus. The motorbike got stuck under the belly of the bus and the sparks due to the bike being dragged and fuel leak from it caused the fire.
Survivors said the two-wheeler was dragged by the bus for about 300 metres. The fire started from the front portion of the bus where the bike was stuck. Most of the passengers were asleep at the time of the accident.
Survivors said the bus door had jammed which resulted in more casualties. One of the survivors said he woke up to the screams of "fire" and he along with some others broke the back window to jump to safety.
Akash, one of the survivors, said the bus was engulfed in flames within minutes. Most of the passengers on board belong to Hyderabad. The person riding the bike was also killed in the accident. He was identified as Shiva Shankar (20), a resident of Kurnool town.
By the time a fire engine rushed to the spot the bus was completely gutted. Police swung into action to shift the injured to hospitals. The Collector said they have to confirm if the bus hit the bike or the two-wheeler rammed into the bus and went under it due to the impact of the collision, resulting in sparks and fuel leak that triggered the fire.
Deputy Inspector General of Police Koya Praveen said the fire started from the bike. “The fuel tank of the bus is intact. The fire started from the bike’s fuel tank. As the material under the bus was highly combustible, the fire spread rapidly,” he said.
The DIG said out of two drivers, one was in their custody while the other was yet to be traced. A team of officials including forensic experts pulled out bodies. As the bodies were charred beyond recognition, DNA tests would be conducted to identify the remains.
On the direction of Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, Gadwal District Collector and Superintendent of Police rushed to the spot to assist the families of the deceased and the survivors. As many as 13 ambulances have left from Hyderabad for Kurnool to bring back the bodies.
According to officials, the deceased belonged to Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Andhra Pradesh Transport Minister M. Ramprasad Reddy visited the accident site. He said the state government would provide all help to families of the deceased.