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Kurnool (Andhra Pradesh), October 26 (IANS) The charred remains of 18 people killed in the Kurnool bus fire have been handed over to their families after DNA testing. Officials gave this information on Sunday.
After conducting DNA tests during the last two days, officials of the Government General Hospital (GGH), Kurnool, handed over the remains to the families. His death certificate was also issued.
Kurnool District Collector A. Siri supervised the process of handing over the remains along with the death certificate. Authorities arranged for ambulances to transport the bodies to their hometowns.
The remains of six victims each were handed over to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, two each to Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and one each to Odisha and Bihar.
The body of the unidentified passenger has been preserved at GGH, Kurnool.
A man from Chittoor district has contacted police saying that his father could be one of the victims of the bus tragedy.
Kurnool SP Vikrant Patil said DNA test would be conducted to establish the identity of the body.
A private bus carrying 46 people, including two drivers, from Hyderabad to Bengaluru met with a fatal accident between 3 and 3.15 am on Sunday morning near Chinnatekur village on the outskirts of Kurnool.
While 19 passengers, including two children, were burnt to death, 27 passengers, including the two drivers, escaped by breaking the windows.
Police investigation revealed that the bus crushed a motorcycle lying on the road after hitting the road divider. The bus dragged the bike for about 200 meters and due to friction and fuel leakage from the bike, a massive fire broke out, which engulfed the entire bus in no time.
The police concluded that the bike rider B. Shiv Shankar (22) died after hitting the divider, while his friend Ariswami alias Nani, who was sitting behind and escaped with minor injuries, fled the spot in panic after seeing the flames in the bus.
After establishing the presence of a second person and identifying him from CCTV footage recorded at a petrol pump minutes before the accident, police arrested Eriswamy from his native village Tuggali.
Shiv Shankar, who was driving the bike, died on the spot after the two-wheeler slipped and hit the road divider.
Eriswami told the police that Shiv Shankar died on the spot after the bike skidded and hit the road divider. He took Shiv Kumar to the side of the road and was about to remove the bike lying in the middle of the road when a speeding bus hit the bike and dragged it for some distance. As soon as the bus caught fire, he panicked and ran away from the spot.
According to the police, Shiv Kumar was drunk, which apparently led to the bike accident and the death of 19 bus passengers traveling on a two-wheeler.
Meanwhile, the police registered a First Information Report (FIR) on the complaint of a passenger.
Bus driver Miriyala Lakshmaiah and V Kaveri Travels owner Vemuri Vinod Kumar have been booked under relevant sections of the BNS.
–IANS
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