"Main Exit Was Locked, Broke Window": How Survivors Escaped Andhra Bus Fire

Harika was asleep when the luxury bus she was travelling in caught fire early this morning. Startled by the chaos, she woke up to find the flames had almost engulfed the vehicle. To her rescue was a broken door at the bus's rear exit. Harika managed to jump out. She escaped the deadly inferno with injuries before the bus turned into ashes, killing 19 people on board.

The incident must have happened around 3-3:30 am, says Harika, who was among the 40-odd passengers travelling to Bengaluru from Hyderabad. The bus caught fire on National Highway 44 near Ullindakonda in the Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh after colliding with a two-wheeler.

Most of the passengers were likely in deep slumber when the fire started, and found it difficult to exit after the fire. By the time Harika woke up, the flames had already started and spread across the bus within seconds. "The back door was broken, so I jumped out from there. In the process of jumping, I got hurt," says Harika.

The sleeper bus, often plying long-distance routes, comes with curtains for the sleeper seats to offer privacy. That made it difficult for the passengers fleeing the bus to ascertain if the other seats were occupied. "Since it's a sleeper, we just get on and sleep. We don't know how many people are there or who is there due to the curtains," says Harika.

The bus's main exit was locked, and the passengers had to break the windows to escape the fire, recounts another survivor, Jayant Kushwaha.

"We first tried to escape from the front, but the main exit was locked. Then we broke the emergency window on the rear side and jumped out. It was quite high, and some people fell unconscious due to the fall. Some people also broke the windows near the driver's seat and escaped," he says.

The main door likely got jammed due to wires snapping after the fire, a senior official told NDTV.

According to another survivor, Surya, the fire likely started around 2:45 am. "A bike came, and something happened. We don't have clarity. The bike went under the bus, and sparks started coming, and then the fire started. Everyone saw it; those who had to get down got down," he says.

The bus belonging to Kaveri Travels had about 40 passengers on board besides the driver and a helper. Noticing the fire, around 20 people jumped out after breaking the windows. Out of 20 missing, 19 deaths have been confirmed. The driver likely fled.

Some bodies were completely burned beyond identification, says TDP MP Byreddy Shabari. Andhra Pradesh transport authorities are now verifying the bus's health.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced financial support of Rs 2 lakh for the families of those who died and Rs 50,000 for the injured.