The Andhra Pradesh government has announced 16 teams for a thorough investigation into Friday’s ghastly bus fire accident in Kurnool district which claimed 19 lives. Home Minister V. Anitha told media persons after a visit to the accident site near Chinnatekur village on the outskirts of Kurnool that 27 people, including both drivers, came out safely from the private bus which caught fire after hitting a two-wheeler that got stuck under the bus belly.
The bus belonging to V. Kaveri Travels was on its way to Bengaluru from Hyderabad. Nine passengers were injured. Six were undergoing treatment at Government General Hospital in Kurnool while three others were admitted to a private hospital. All the injured were in stable condition.
Two children are among 19 passengers charred to death in the accident which occurred between 3 and 3.15 a.m. Six of the deceased each are from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, two each from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, and one each from Odisha and Bihar.
Another deceased is yet to be identified. Since the bodies were charred beyond recognition, the remains will be handed over to the families after DNA test, said Anitha, who was accompanied by Transport Minister Ramprasad Reddy.
The Home Minister said that a total of 39 adults, four children and an unidentified person were aboard the bus. She said 23 adult passengers, two children and both the drivers survived the mishap. She said the preliminary investigation revealed that the bus hit a motorbike and dragged it for a few feet.
The bike got stuck under the bus, and the spark due to the collision and fuel leakage from the bike triggered the fire and engulfed the entire bus. The bike rider was also killed in the accident. He was identified as B.Shivshankar (24), a resident of Kurnool.
The Home Minister said the police received information at 3.21 a.m. and the police along with firefighting personnel reached the spot to launch rescue operation. The second driver of the bus forced open the rear exit door to help trapped passengers come out.
The investigation also revealed that two unidentified passengers boarded the bus at Aramghar in Hyderabad and one of them later deboarded. The other person is suspected to have died. She announced Rs 5 lakh ex-gratia each to the families of the deceased and Rs 2 lakh each to the injured.
This ex-gratia is for the victims who belong to Andhra Pradesh. Police have registered a case and took up investigation. The driver who was at the wheel at the time of the accident is being questioned by the police to ascertain the cause of the mishap.
Kurnool Superintendent of Police Vikrant Patil said the bus driver told police that the bus hit the bike which was already lying on the road. The driver believes that the bike rider had already met with an accident and the bus ran over the bike which was lying on the road.
The Home Minister said 16 teams of police and forensic departments have been constituted to conduct the investigations from all angles. Ten teams comprise forensic experts to conduct DNA tests. Four teams have been formed for physical examination and investigation into the nature of the blast.
Two teams have been constituted for chemical analysis. Director General of Police Harish Kumar Gupta also visited the accident site. The deceased have been identified as J. Philomen Baby (64), Kishore (64), Prashanth (32), Arga Bandyopadhyay (23), Yuvan Shankar Raja (22), Meghnath (25), Dhatri (27), Amrit Kumar (18), Chandana Manga (23), Anusha (22), Giri Rao (48), Kenugu Deepak Kumar (24), G. Ramesh (35), G. Anusha (30), Manitha (10), Keshanath Manish (12), Sandhya Rani (43), Srinivasa Reddy and Panchala Sivashankar (two-wheeler rider).
The name of one deceased bus passenger is yet to be known. Three young women techies from the Telugu states were among the deceased. They were all employed at IT firms in Bengaluru. A family of four from Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh also perished in the tragedy.
Earlier, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu expressed deep shock over the accident and directed the ministers and officials to rush immediately to the spot and take up relief measures. The Chief Minister, who is on a visit to the UAE, conducted a teleconference with ministers and officials and asked them to rush immediately to the accident spot.
He spoke to Ministers, Chief Secretary, DGP and Kurnool district Collector and asked them to take immediate measures to identify the bodies and hand them over to their relatives. He ordered an inquiry into the incident.
Telangana’s Excise Minister Jupally Krishna Rao also visited the accident site along with some senior officials. He said six of the deceased are from Telangana. Ten passengers from the state are among the survivors.
He said that Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has announced an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh to the deceased from Telangana state and Rs 2 lakh to the injured. He said that the accident occurred due to the negligence of the bus driver and the Telangana state government will take special steps to prevent such accidents in future.
Krishna Rao said that orders will be issued to ensure that private bus owners hire well-trained drivers and strictly follow the rules and regulations of the Transport Department.