Nalgonda: In a tragic road accident, a passenger was burnt to death while many others were injured after the bus they were travelling in caught fire in Nalgonda district of Telangana, officials said on Monday. It is learnt that the private bus carrying 39 passengers was travelling from Hyderabad towards Chira when it suddenly caught fire on the Marriguda bypass road in the Nalgonda district.
The fire inside the bus led to chaos and panic as passengers alarmed the driver and started jumping out of the bus. In the meantime, the locals after seeing the bus going up in flames rushed to the spot to start a rescue operation. The locals also informed the firefighters who also rushed to the spot to extinguish the fire.
However, by the time the fire was extinguished, one passenger was burnt to death, an official said. He said that many passengers received burn injuries in the blaze. The injured passengers have been taken to the hospital where they are being treated. It is believed that the passenger died because he did not get off the bus as he was sleeping.
The identity of the deceased passenger and the injured was not immediately known. The bus was also destroyed in the fire incident. The cause of the fire was not immediately known. But reports claimed that the fire must have been caused due to a short circuit in the bus. Recalling the horrific scenes of the fire, one of the passengers said that they told the driver about smoke emanating from the bus, but he did not pay heed to them.
“After a while, the fire broke out. The driver stopped the bus and asked everyone to get out. We all woke up immediately and got out. Everyone was awake. Otherwise, there would have been a major accident," said the passenger. The police have registered a case into the fire incident and are investigating the cause of the accident.
A preliminary assessment was made that the accident was caused by a short circuit.
