KURNOOL: Twenty-six passengers travelling to Bengaluru from Hyderabad in a Yellow Travels sleeper bus (AR028055) escaped death by inches after the bus caught fire and was reduced to ashes in no time. The incident took place at Yenugumarri, 10 km from Peapully, on NH 44. All the passengers have been reported to be safe. The cause of the fire, although yet to be ascertained, is suspected to be a short circuit.
We tried getting in touch with the owner of Yellow Travels — K. Srinivasa Reddy of Balanagar, Hyderabad — but his phone was switched off.
Peapully circle inspector Mulakanna said that a passenger who was sleeping in the last row noticed smoke and alerted the driver, Mr Anjaneyulu, who then pulled over immediately and asked all passengers to disembark.
Unfortunately, however, the passengers lost a fair amount of their belongings to the fire.
Mr Mulakanna said there were 29 sleeper berths inside the bus out of which, three were unoccupied. The luggage lost in the fire includes laptops, personal belongings, and cameras. A case was booked under section 336 of the IPC.
Fire officer Veera Reddy said he heard from the driver around 3.30 am on Thursday, however, the bus was on fire by the time he got there. Two fire tenders reached the spot and doused the fire and a crane lifted the charred body of the vehicle and cleared the road. Some of passengers returned to Hyderabad and most of them proceeded to Bengaluru by other buses, the CI said.
