Negligent riding by a drunk biker is suspected to have caused the bus inferno that left 20 people dead in Andhra Pradesh’s Kurnool yesterday. CCTV footage of the biker, who was among the victims, suggests that he was drunk shortly before he rammed his two-wheeler into the private luxury bus on NH-44. A fire erupted soon after, reducing the massive structure to ashes within minutes.
The viral footage showed the biker arriving at a petrol pump with a pillion a little before 2:30 am. There was no attendant there. The man riding pillion then walked away from the frame, likely to find someone to refuel their vehicle. The biker too got off and went around the petrol pump, the footage showed.
Left frustrated, he even screamed at one point before turning his bike around on its side stand. He then rode away from the petrol pump, struggling to maintain balance on the two-wheeler.
Around 3-3:30 am, the crash occurred near Ullindakonda. The bus that was travelling from Hyderabad to Bengaluru with 46 people on board caught fire right after, trapping 19 passengers who were asleep. There were 27 survivors who managed to break windows and jump out of the burning bus.
Recounting the horror, one of the survivors told news agency PTI, “The bike went under the bus, and sparks started coming, and then the fire started.”
The biker’s reckless riding, allegedly under the influence of alcohol, has now emerged as the cause of the crash, though an investigation is still underway into the tragedy.
The pillion rider is now in police custody. The cops are now interrogating him to draw up a sequence of the events that led to the tragedy and ascertain if it was indeed the biker’s fault or the bus driver’s. The police have also collected a viscera sample to find out if the biker was drunk.