“Pinni (aunty), we will die,” a boy travelling with two others told his aunt as smoke filled the bus and they struggled to understand what was happening.
“There were three of us. Two of us are alive, but there is no trace of the boy,” the woman passenger said from her hospital bed.
Survivors of the deadly bus fire described scenes of confusion, as darkness, heat and thick smoke engulfed them while they were asleep and threw them off their seats.
The accident in Markapuram district on Thursday killed at least 13 people and injured several others. Most victims were charred, while 22 were injured after a private bus rammed into a dumper truck carrying concrete chips near Rayavaram village on the Podili road.
Chaos unfolded afterwards. The truck toppled to one side, the front of the bus was ripped apart, and both vehicles caught fire just before dawn.
The aftermath of the accident was grim still. Several burnt bodies lay on the road before being moved to ambulances. In one case, the rib cage of one body was also visible, indicating the severity of the blaze.
“We had to reach Udayagiri by morning,” the woman recalled. “We were sleeping and fell from our seats. By the time we realised, there was smoke.”
Two from her group escaped through a side door. She said the bus was speeding and she was seated near the rear.
Another survivor, a young man with burn injuries, said he had no idea what happened. “I was sleeping. I fell onto the road. There were flames on my body,” he said, struggling to speak as ointment had been applied to his burns and blisters.
Another male passenger, who appeared unscathed, said the accident occurred at around 5.30 am, prompting him and another person to break open a window to escape.
He said he had begun his journey from Nizamabad in Telangana and was headed to Pamuru when the accident occurred midway.
Another survivor, a woman who could not hold back her tears while being treated in the hospital said, “I was sleeping on the upper berth and jumped down. I didn't understand anything in the fire.”
“Somebody pulled me out; I don't know who," she said.
Many said they struggled to breathe after inhaling smoke.
“I didn’t realise anything until the fire reached me. I couldn’t breathe,” one passenger said.
A young man seated in the first row said everything went dark. He managed to jump out of the blazing bus, saying passengers were trampling over each other in a desperate attempt to escape.
Another passenger, who was awake and checking his phone, said most others were asleep. “I opened the emergency door and helped a woman out,” he said.
Several injured passengers are undergoing treatment in hospitals.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy expressed grief over the loss of lives.
President Droupadi Murmu also condoled the deaths and wished the injured a speedy recovery.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh from the PMNRF to the families of the deceased.
(With inputs from PTI)
