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Kurnool: Eleven passengers were burnt to death and nine others are missing after a private bus caught fire after hitting a two-wheeler in Andhra Pradesh’s Kurnool early Friday.
Officials said the bus, owned by a private travel operator, was going from Hyderabad to Bengaluru and was carrying 41 passengers, including two children.
Nineteen passengers came out of the Vemuri Kaveri Travels Volvo bus by breaking its windows. Police said the accident occurred near Ulindakonda in Kurnool district at around 3.30 am.
Kurnool District Collector A. Siri told media persons at the crash site that they had located 21 of the 41 people on board. Eleven of these 21 were taken to hospitals in Kurnool.
“We have not been able to trace 20 yet. Eleven of their bodies have been recovered. Nine passengers are still unaccounted for,” he said.
The Collector said that the condition of the injured is stable.
The bus started its journey from Hyderabad at around 10.30 pm and when it reached near Kurnool on National Highway 44 (NH-44) at around 3.30 am, a two-wheeler collided with the bus. The motorcycle got stuck under the belly of the bus and it is feared that this may have caused the spark.
Survivors said the bus dragged the two-wheeler for about 300 metres. Most of the passengers were sleeping at the time of the accident. One of the survivors said he woke up to the screams of fire and that he, along with some others, broke windows to jump to safety.
Akash, one of the survivors, said that within minutes the bus was engulfed in flames. Most of the passengers on the plane are from Hyderabad.
By the time a fire engine reached the spot, the bus was completely burnt to ashes. The police swung into action to take the injured to the hospital.
The Collector said that they have to confirm whether the bus hit the bike or the two-wheeler collided with the bus, but the bike went under the bus and due to the impact of the collision, fuel leaked and sparks caused the fire.
Deputy Inspector General of Police Koya Praveen said that the fire started from the bike. “The fuel tank of the bus is intact. The fire started from the fuel tank of the bike. Since the material under the bus was highly combustible, the fire spread rapidly,” he said.
The DIG said that one of the two drivers is in his custody while the other is yet to be traced.
A team of officials including a doctor, police, fire services, revenue and other departments were at the accident site to pull out the burnt remains of the passengers. The DIG said that DNA testing would be conducted to identify the dead bodies.
–IANS