Kurnool bus tragedy: Survivors say drivers did not alert passengers about fire

Some of the survivors of the ghastly bus accident at Chinna Tekuru in Kurnool district claimed that the drivers of the ill-fated bus should have responded in a proper manner and alerted the passengers inside the bus. They said more lives could have been saved had the drivers managed to open the doors of the bus.

One of the passenger, Aswin, said he boarded the bus near Kukatpally around 9.40 p.m. on Thursday. Aswin’s berth was right behind the driver’s seat. According to Mr. Aswin, the bus stopped at Jadcherla for a tea break and then proceeded towards Bengaluru. “I woke up to a blast like sound and found smoke in the bus. We tried to break open the doors and rush out but could not,” he said.

Mr. Aswin said he and other passengers started shouting and alerted others about the engulfing flames. “I could faintly see the driver spraying water from a bottle on the fire but that could not control the fire,” he said and added he starting shouting to alert the other passengers to break the windows. Mr. Aswin came out of the driver’s door and could save his life. He felt that the drivers should have alerted the passengers inside the vehicle and break open the main entrance door.

Another passenger, Surya, said smoke started to engulf the bus minutes after the vehicle came to halt on the roadside. “It was becoming difficult for us to breathe and see due to the smoke. Some people coming behind the bus in a car broke open the rear windows, which saved our lives,” he said.

Thirty-one-year-old Akash, who works at a paint company in Karnataka, was travelling in the U3 berth. “I could not see the bus drivers after fire engulfed the bus. They should have alerted us, but they were nowhere near the bus,” he said.

MG Rama Reddy, a 50-year-old passenger traveling in the U 19 berth, said he could save his life as he was traveling in the rear part of the bus. “The aisle was filled with smoke and I could not see anything. I could reach the rear side window from where people were jumping out. Some one pulled me out and I fell on the ground and suffered minor injuries to my face,” he said.