In a tragic incident, more than 20 passengers were reportedly charred to death after a private sleeper bus travelling from Hyderabad to Bengaluru caught fire at Kurnool due a head-on collision with a bike coming from the opposite direction. The incident occurred in the wee hours at around 03:30 AM. Around 15 individuals managed to escape with minor injuries. The bus belonging to Kaveri travels was carrying 44 on board as per preliminary reports. The exact number of deaths is yet to be officially confirmed.

The majority of the passengers were fast asleep when the accident happened. While a few passengers woke up to the sudden fire and managed to break the windows and jump out, many others were trapped inside as the flames engulfed the entire bus within minutes and resulted in casualities even before the rescue operations begun.

Four fire engines from Kurnool were rushed to the spot to bring the blaze under control, but by then, the bus was reduced to ashes. Rescue teams shifted the injured passengers to the Kurnool Government General Hospital for treatment. Majority of the passengers were residents of Hyderabad. The bus drivers fled the scene and a search operation was launched to trace them. A case was registered and further investigation is on.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who is currently in Dubai on an official tour, expressed deep pain over the tragic loss of lives. Officials briefed him about the incident, following which he directed the chief secretary and senior officials to rush to the accident site and oversee the rescue and relief operations.