45 burnt alive as bus catches fire in Andhra

Mahbubnagar, Oct 30 – Forty-five passengers were burnt to death as a private luxury bus burst into flames after its fuel tank caught fire in Mahbubnagar district of Andhra Pradesh early on Wednesday.

 

The accident occurred at 5.10 AM when the diesel tank of the Hyderabad-bound bus owned by Jabbar Travels from Bengaluru hit against a culvert near Palem in Mahabubnagar, around 140 kms from Hyderabad on NH-44 (Bengaluru-Hyderabad), police said, adding the entire bus was engulfed in flames in a matter of minutes.

 

Fifty-two persons, including 50 passengers, were travelling in the Volvo bus when the mishap occurred.

 

Initial reports had said that some software engineers were among the victims.  The bodies have been burnt beyond recognition and it is difficult to ascertain how many of the dead are men or women, Chand said. (source: DC online)

 

Five passengers, the driver Feroze Khan and cleaner Ayyaz, managed to escape with burn injuries and were undergoing treatment at different hospitals, another police officer said. (Source: DC online)

 

"The mortal remains will be handed over the kin of the deceased after the DNA tests," the Collector said.

 

A team of doctors from Gandhi Hospital and Osmania General Hospital and forensic experts from Hyderabad rushed to the spot to conduct post-mortem of the bodies.

 

The bus started from Bangalore at 11 PM Tuesday night.