‘Ash’ Wednesday: Bell tolled for 45 in bus inferno

The tragic incident in which forty- five passengers were charred to death near Kothakota in Mahabubnagar district on Wednesday was considered to be the first ever most horrific accident in the history of Andhra Pradesh, police said. 

The passengers were in deep sleep and thus were left with no choice to escape from the accident and flames engulfed the bus within no time.
The accident took place, when the private bus coming to Hyderabad from Bangalore caught fire after hitting a culvert around 5.20 a.m.
According to the reports from the site, a mother along with her daughter in her lap was reduced to ashes. Since all the 45 victims were charred beyond recognition, an inordinate delay may occur to identify the bodies. It was also suspected that the ill-fated bus was carrying fireworks, as the festival of lights, Diwali is round the corner. Doubts were also pouring in on the driver, as he was allegedly drunk. The scene at the spot of the bus accident is chaotic and emotional.
Soon as news of the accident broke, scores of denizens rushed to the spot looking for their kith and kin.
On the other hand, the travels management gave the details of only 29 to the police. It is learnt that the daughter of a judge of Mahaboobnagar SCs STs atrocities (Prevention) Act, Priyanka was killed in the accident. Preliminary investigation by police revealed that speeding caused the accident. Police arrested the manager of Jabbar Travels in Hyderabad and took him to Mahabubnagar for questioning.

Driver, cleaner grilled
According to reports, police are grilling the driver and cleaner to ascertain the exact reasons behind the accident. It was suspected that the driver was drunk at the time of accident. Soon after the bus hit the culvert, the duo jumped out from the bus and escaped with minor injuries. Driver blood sample was sent for testing to determine whether he was drunk.

Ambiguity on cause of mishap
The driver of the ill-fated bus reportedly confessed during the interrogation that the sudden puncture of the front wheel of the bus near Palem, led to the mishap. Accordingly, he lost the control over the speeding bus which rammed into a culvert. When the bus hit the culvert, the diesel tank was damaged and fire engulfed the bus immediately.
But, the reports averred that the driver hit the culvert while trying to overtake a car at high speed.

“Bus was long ago sold to Zabbar Travels’
The Diwakar travels, owned by former minister JC Diwakar Reddy, categorically denied any connection with the accident. According to the travels, bus was purchased under the Diwakar travels, but was sold away to Zabbar travels in 2010.
Showing the agreement paper to the media, the personnel of the travels said Zabbar travels did not change the registration despite several reminders from them. The Volvo bus barring number AP 02 0963 was registered in Ananthapur district.

Guntur couple charred to death
Residents of Rayapadu in Guntur district, Basundra Raju and his wife Meri Vijaya who were going from Bangolre to Hyderabad were burnt alive in the accident.

Techie from Karimnagar dies in accidentA software techie, Amarender was also burnt alive in the accident. The deceased belong to Echerla village under Pegadapalli mandal of Karimnagar district.
Three members from same family die
Ramco Cements manager (Hyderabad) was one among the 45 passengers killed in the accident. More shocking is that two others from his family also charred to death.

List of the deceased
Mohammad Asif, PhaniKumar,Amer, Shaktikanth, Ruhia, Ramaraju Dinesh, Vedapathy, Adori Jyothi, Prashanth,Gupta, Mohsin,Venkatesh, Chandrashekar,Kiran,Shoaib,Azar, Srikrishna,Ahmatullah
 Galimery, Akshay, Raghuveer, Jamaluddin, SureshBabu, Mohammad ,Sardar,Priyanka,Harish, Manjunath, P N V Rajesh, Giridhar N S, Farooq Ali, Ashutosh, Sonu, Yuvaraj, Vikranth

-Siva@Sakshipost