Hyderabad: At least 21 passengers were burnt alive when a private Volvo bus caught fire on the outskirts of Kurnool town in Andhra Pradesh in the wee hours of Friday (October 24). 

The bus, belonging to V. Kaveri Travels, collided with a motorcyclist on National Highway 44 and mowed him down to a distance around 3:30 AM. The motorcyclist crashed into the fuel pipe and got stuck underneath the bus which sparked off the fire and engulfed the entire vehicle within minutes, police said. 

Andhra Pradesh health minister Satyakumar Yadav said in a release that preliminary investigation revealed that the bus caught fire after a bike collided with the bus and dragged it for some distance. Investigating agencies are yet to conclude the exact reason.

The passenger list of the ill-fated bus showed 39 adults and two children, most of them from Hyderabad. It departed around 9:30 PM on Thursday (October 23) from Patancheru where the main office of the agency is located, and picked up passengers who booked tickets from half-a-dozen points en route before reaching Vanasthalipuram, the last pick up point, and hitting the national highway to Bengaluru.

According to eyewitnesses, the collision occurred at a crossroad near Chinna Tekuru village on the outskirts of Kurnool town around 3:30 AM. The bus came to a halt only after mowing down the motorcyclist.

Most of the passengers were in deep sleep when the accident occurred. Several of them managed to escape by breaking the emergency exit while others were caught in the fire amidst cries for help. 

The trapped victims had no way to escape because the alley leading to the lone door near the driver's cabin was already in thick fire. The driver and his substitute jumped out from their door in the cabin.

Witnesses also said the accident could have been minimised if the driver stopped the bus as soon as he hit the motorcycle.

Kurnool collector A. Siri has said the accident was the result of diesel leakage from the bus. Twenty passengers escaped it with injuries while the two drivers jumped out to safety from their door in the cabin. Some of the injured passengers were admitted to Kurnool General Hospital in a critical condition. 

One of the passengers who escaped, Ashok, said he was woken up by a loud sound and saw fire all around. He broke the window pane and jumped out with two others.

Pending challans and safety violations

Koya Praveen, the deputy inspector general of police of Kurnool range, confirmed the presence of 43 passengers, including the two drivers, at the time of the accident. Some passengers were burnt even before they woke up from sleep. 

The deputy IGP said the motorcyclist was identified as Shiv Shankar. The bus did not incorporate fire precautions for emergencies. The travel agency owner has been identified as Vemuri Vinod.

Inquiries by local police also revealed that the bus had 16 pending challans worth Rs 23,000 with the transport department of Telangana for various violations since January last year. It had entered into no entry zones nine times and had been booked for high speed and dangerous driving on other occasions. 

The bus was registered in Odisha in 2018 and held tourist permits till April 30, 2030. It had fitness validity up to March 31, 2027, and insurance validity up to April 30 next year.

Ongoing identification

Among the deceased were four members of a family from Gollavaripalli village of Vinjamuru mandal in Nellore district – Golla Ramesh (35), Anusha (30), Manvita (10) and Manish (12). A woman, Sandhya Rani (43), and her daughter Chandana (23) from Sivayipalli village in Medak district of Telangana also died in the flames. The latter was a software engineer in Bengaluru. 

Another software engineer, Chitturi Meghanath (25), of Chitturi village in Mudigonda mandal of Khammam district was also killed.

Most of the victims had gone to their hometowns for Diwali and were returning to Bengaluru that day.

Two other passengers who boarded the bus from Suraram in the outskirts of Hyderabad, included Gunasai, who jumped out to safety, and Prashant, whose mobile phone was switched off. The phones of two others who boarded the bus from Jawaharlal Nehru Technology University campus gate were also switched off. The police assumed them to be among the casualties.

Sixteen forensic teams were on job to identify the victims by their skeletal remains.

Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, who is in Dubai for an investments promotion event, was informed about the accident by the chief secretary K. Vijayanand. In the bordering Gadwal district of Telangana, chief minister A. Revanth Reddy asked the collector and superintendent of police to aid the victims.

President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed condolences to the bereaved families on X. Modi announced an ex-gratia relief of Rs 2 lakh from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund to each of the families of the deceased. He also announced Rs. 50,000 to the injured.

The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.