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Kurnool (Andhra Pradesh), October 24 (IANS) The Andhra Pradesh government has announced 16 teams to conduct a thorough investigation into the massive bus fire accident that took place in Kurnool district on Friday, in which 19 people lost their lives.
Home Minister V. Anitha, after visiting the accident site near Chinnatekur village on the outskirts of Kurnool, told media persons that 27 people, including both the drivers, came out safely from the private bus, which caught fire after colliding with a two-wheeler, which got stuck under the bus.
The bus of V. Kaveri Travels was going from Hyderabad to Bangalore.
Nine passengers were injured. Six were undergoing treatment at the government general hospital in Kurnool, while three others were admitted to a private hospital. The condition of all the injured is stable.
Two children were also among the 19 passengers who burnt to death in the accident that took place between 3 and 3.15 am.
The deceased include six each from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, two each from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and one each from Odisha and Bihar. Another deceased has not been identified yet.
Anita, who was accompanied by Transport Minister Ramaprasad Reddy, said since the bodies were so charred that they could not be identified, the remains would be handed over to the families after DNA testing.
The Home Minister said that a total of 39 adults, four children and one unknown person were traveling in the bus. He said 23 adult passengers, two children and both drivers survived the accident.
He said preliminary investigation revealed that the bus hit a motorcycle and dragged it by a few feet. The bike got stuck under the bus and due to the collision, sparks and fuel leakage from the bike caught fire and engulfed the entire bus.
The bike rider also died in the accident. He has been identified as Kurnool resident B. Born as Shivshankar (24).
The Home Minister said that the police received information at 3.21 am and reached the spot along with fire brigade personnel to launch the rescue operation. The other driver of the bus forcefully opened the rear exit door to help the stranded passengers get out.
Investigation also revealed that two unidentified passengers boarded the bus at Aramghar in Hyderabad and one of them deboarded later. There is a possibility of death of another person.
He announced an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh each to the families of the deceased and Rs 2 lakh each to the injured. This ex-gratia amount is for those victims who are from Andhra Pradesh.
Police have registered the case and started investigation. To find out the cause of the accident, the police are interrogating the driver who was driving at the time of the accident.
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 biker has met with an accident and the bus has run over the bike lying on the road.
The Home Minister said that 16 teams of police and forensic departments have been formed to investigate from all angles. Ten teams include forensic experts to conduct DNA tests.
Four teams have been formed to physically investigate and investigate the nature of the explosion. Two teams have been formed for chemical analysis.
Director General of Police Harish Kumar Gupta also visited the accident site.
The deceased have been identified as J Philomene Baby (64), Kishore (64), Prashant (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), Srinivas Reddy and Panchala Shivshankar (two-wheeler rider).
The name of a deceased bus passenger is not yet known.
The dead included three young women technocrats from Telugu states. All of them were working in 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 grief over the accident and directed ministers and officials to immediately reach the spot and take relief measures.
The chief minister, who is on a visit to the UAE, held a teleconference with ministers and officials and asked them to immediately rush to the accident site. He spoke to ministers, Chief Secretary, DGP and Kurnool District Collector and asked them to take immediate steps to identify the bodies and hand them over to their relatives. He ordered an investigation into the incident.
Telangana Excise Minister Jupalli Krishna Rao also visited the accident site along with some senior officials. He said six of the dead were from Telangana. The survivors include ten passengers from the state.
He said that Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has announced an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh to the dead and Rs 2 lakh to the injured of Telangana state.
He said that the accident occurred due to negligence of the bus driver and the Telangana state government would take special steps to prevent such accidents in future.
Krishna Rao said orders would be issued to ensure that private bus owners employ well-trained drivers and strictly follow the rules and regulations of the transport department.
–IANS
MS/PGH