HYDERABAD: A private bus, with 37 passengers onboard, travelling from Hyderabad to Chittoor overturned and caught fire near Beechupally village in Jogulamba Gadwal district early Saturday morning. The incident left one woman dead and four injured.
The Itikyal police have registered a case under Section 304 (A) of the IPC (causing death by negligence) and the cause of the accident is currently under investigation. Cops have detained the driver, who is suspected to have fallen asleep.
A police officer from the Itikyal police station said, “The bus met with the accident as it approached Beechupally village near the Telangana State Special Police 10th Battalion Training Centre around 3:30 am. Most passengers were heading home for Sankranti celebrations. Thirty passengers had booked their seats online and the remaining seven had boarded near Aramghar.”
According to reports, after the accident, the driver alerted the passengers, urging them to escape. While others managed to get out by breaking open the glass windows, one woman, S Mahima, 45, remained trapped inside.
While escaping, her hand got stuck in the bus near the window and despite her cries for help, the fire prevented anyone from coming to her rescue. It is learnt that by the time firefighters arrived, the bus was engulfed in flames and the woman had died. Of the four injured passengers, three are receiving treatment at a local hospital in Gadwal and one was transferred to Hyderabad.
Later, officials removed the remains of the woman from the bus and transferred it to a nearby government hospital for a postmortem examination before handing it over to her family. Cranes were used to clear the bus from the spot.
Driver fell asleep?
The driver of the bus was detained by the Itikyal police. Cops suspect that the driver must have fallen asleep, leading to the accident. A case has been registered under Section 304 (A) of the IPC.