Forty-five passengers were charred to death as a private luxury bus burst into flames after its fuel tank caught fire in Mahbubnagar district of Andhra Pradesh early today.
"Charred bodies of 45 persons have been retrieved from the bus," Deputy Inspector General (Hyderabad Range) V Naveen Chand told PTI.
The accident occurred at 5.10 AM when the diesel tank of the Hyderabad-bound bus from Bangalore hit against a culvert near Palem in Mahabubnagar, around 140 kms from Hyderabad on NH-44 (Bangalore-Hyderabad), police said, adding the entire bus was engulfed in flames in a matter of minutes.
Fifty-two persons, including 50 passengers, were travelling in the Volvo bus when the mishap occurred. Initial reports had said that some software engineers were among the victims.
The bodies have been burnt beyond recognition and it is difficult to ascertain how many of the dead are men or women, Chand said.
Five passengers, the driver Feroze Khan and cleaner Ayyaz, managed to escape with burn injuries and were undergoing treatment at different hospitals, another police officer said.
Mahabubnagar District Collector Girija Shankar and District SP D Nagendra Kumar, who were supervising the rescue operation said, "The identification of the deceased will be determined after conducting DNA tests and collecting blood samples of the relatives.
"The mortal remains will be handed over the kin of the deceased after the DNA tests," the Collector said.
A team of doctors from Gandhi Hospital and Osmania General Hospital and forensic experts from Hyderabad rushed to the spot to conduct post-mortem of the bodies.
The bus started from Bangalore at 11 PM last night.
"It seems the bus was travelling at a high speed when its fuel tank hit the roadside culvert and caught fire and got burst.The passengers in the bus were burnt beyond recognition.The entire bus has been gutted," Wanaparthy DSP Srinivas Reddy said.
Police said they had collected the list of passengers from the private bus operators and found that the online booking list had names of 33 bus-passengers and other travellers may have boarded the bus later.
A bus passenger, who survived the accident, and is undergoing treatment at a hospital, said, "All passengers were sleeping when the bus caught fire.Some of us tried to break open the window glass, however, we were unable to do so.I immediately moved towards the emergency (exit) window and broke it and managed to jump out of the bus."
According to the cleaner of the bus, most of the passengers were sleeping when the accident took place.The cleaner, who has been admitted to a hospital in Hyderabad, said he was pulled out of the burning bus by the driver of a car passing through the area.
An eye-witness said he saw the bus going in flames at around 5.15 AM and within 30 minutes it was reduced to ashes.
Meanwhile, worried relatives rushed to the office of the bus operator in Lakdi-Ka-Pul area in Hyderabad to collect information.
"When we enquired no details are being given.We are worried. There is no clarity here. They are still collecting the list from their Bangalore office," some of the relatives said.
Distraught relatives of the victims, many of whom were from Bangalore, gathered at the bus operator, Jabbar Travels office here, seeking information about their dear ones.
Jabbar Travels claimed there was no problem regarding the fitness of the vehicle and they had all the valid documents.
"We have the valid permit, fitness certificate and insurance and the bus was being serviced every 25,000 km", Jamil Jabbar from the transport operator's family told reporters.
Karnataka Transport Commissioner K Amarnarayana said the bus had fitness certificate till October 6, 2014, and also insurance and permit.
Bangalore-to-Hyderabad bus catches fire, 40 dead
Hyderabad, Oct 30: Forty passengers burnt alive when a bus caught fire in Mahabubnagar district in Andhra Pradesh early Wednesday, police said.
A private bus coming to Hyderabad from Bangalore caught fire after hitting a culvert near Palem in Mahabubnagar district around 5.20 a.m.
Seven passengers, including the driver and a cleaner, managed to escape. They were shifted to a hospital.
The Volvo, belonging to Jabbar Travels, was carrying 49 passengers. The passengers were asleep when the bus hit the culvert and its diesel tank burst. People from nearby village said the bus was reduced to ashes within few minutes. The victims were charred beyond recognition.
Mahabubnagar District Collector M.Girija Shankar said five passengers were undergoing treatment at a hospital at Vanaparti.
He along with Superintendent of Police Nagendra Kumar visited the scene. They said a list of only 29 passengers was received from the private bus travels. Other passengers boarded the bus enroute. The bus left Bangalore at 10 p.m. Tuesday and was scheduled to reach Hyderabad at 6.30 a.m.
The volvo bus belonging to Jabbar Travels based in Hyderabad started from Bangalore late on Tuesday night.
It hit a road median when it reached Juverla village in Kothakota mandal on Bangalore-Hyderabad highway around 5 a.m. “The diesel tank got burst and flames erupted. Before the passengers could realise what had happened, the blaze engulfed the entire bus,” residents of the village were quoted as saying.
While five persons, including driver and cleaner of the bus, managed to escape, though with burns, the remaining passengers got trapped and were burnt alive. There were nearly 41 passengers in the bus. Most of the victims are believed to be from Andhra Pradesh.
The injured were shifted to Government hospital at Wanaparthy. They were being shifted to Apollo hospital in Hyderabad. Senior police and revenue authorities rushed to the spot.
The accident resulted in a massive traffic jam on the Hyderabad-Bangalore for kilometres on either side of Kothakota.
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