Kurnool bus fire: At least 20 charred bodies have been recovered from the Kaveri Travels bus that caught fire in the wee hours of Friday. The vehicle, carrying 41 passengers from Hyderabad to Bengaluru, was engulfed in flames in Andhra Pradesh’s Kurnool district.
Preliminary probe into the gut-wrenching incident suggests that the bus caught fire after a bike collided with the bus and became lodged under it. Following this, the fuel tank of the bus burst and caught fire, as per a report by TOI.
‘Main door was locked’
Survivors have now detailed the terrifying moments when the bus caught fire. “Around 2.30–2.40 am, the bus stopped and I woke up to see it had caught fire. Everyone on board was asleep,” a passenger told news agency ANI.
He added, “We woke them up and tried to escape. The main door was locked, so we broke the emergency window and jumped out. Many others also escaped by breaking the windows.”
‘Don’t know how many people were there’
Another passenger, Harika, said she woke up to the sight of flames and managed to jump from a broken rear door just moments before the bus was completely gutted, NDTV reported.
“The back door was broken, so I jumped out from there. In the process of jumping, I got hurt,” she was quoted by NDTV as saying.
She added, “Since it’s a sleeper, we just get on and sleep. We don’t know how many people are there or who is there due to the curtains.”
‘Smashed windows to escape’
Yet another survivor, Jayant Kushwaha, said passengers had no choice but to smash windows as the main exit would not open, NDTV reported.
“We first tried to escape from the front, but the main exit was locked. Then we broke the emergency window on the rear side and jumped out,” he recalled, per a report by NDTV, before adding, “It was quite high, and some people fell unconscious due to the fall. Some people also broke the windows near the driver’s seat and escaped.”
A senior police official told NDTV that the main door of the bus likely got jammed due to wires snapping after the fire.
A fourth survivor account, the bike went under the bus, and then the fire started.
“A bike came, and something happened. We don’t have clarity. The bike went under the bus, and sparks started coming, and then the fire started. Everyone saw it; those who had to get down got down,” NDTV quoted him as saying.
CM Naidu ordered inquiry; PM announced ex gratia
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who is in Dubai, spoke to officials over the phone to review the situation.
“I am shocked to learn about the devastating bus fire accident near Chinna Tekur village in Kurnool district. My heartfelt condolences go out to the families of those who have lost their loved ones,” he wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
CM Naidu has directed a comprehensive inquiry into the tragedy and ordered officials to ensure immediate support and relief for the affected families.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also expressed his deep condolences over the tragedy and announced an ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh from the PMNRF for the families of each person who died, and Rs 50,000 to those injured.