Six software engineers were among 45 people burnt alive when a Volvo bus caught fire near Palem in Mahbubnagar district,140 km from Hyderabad on Bangalore-Hyderabad National Highway,Wednesday early morning. The others killed included sales and marketing executives and businessmen,all aged 25-32 years. The police said driver of the bus belonging to Jabbar Travels of Bangalore lost control trying to overtake a car and hit a culvert. The impact ruptured its fuel tank and the bus caught fire. As diesel spilled,the blaze engulfed the entire bus within minutes. The driver and his assistant escaped unhurt,while five passengers sitting in front received minor burns. They are undergoing treatment at DRDO Apollo Hospital in Hyderabad. Mahbubnagar SP Nagendra Kumar said most passengers were possibly asleep when the accident occurred. Villagers in nearby areas say the bus caught fire between 5.15 am and 5.30 am. As the fire spread quickly,they could not help. All bodies are charred beyond recognition, he said. Kothakota Circle Inspector S Venkatesh,who questioned the driver,Fairoz Ahmed,said the bus with the registration AP02 TA 0963 was speeding. Only one of the 45 bodies may be identified. The remaining have to be sent for DNA-testing (to Hyderabad), he said. Among the software engineers killed was Adaru Ravi (27). The Vizianagaram resident was waiting in Bangalore for an offer letter from KT&T,where he had attended an interview last week. When the letter did not arrive Tuesday,Ravi decided in the evening to take up a job at Accenture in Hyderabad and boarded the ill-fated bus,his friend L Shiv Prasad said. Shamima Begum woke up Wednesday morning expecting to see her son Farood Ali,also a software engineer with IBM. After boarding the bus Tuesday night,he had called and told her he would call again after getting down at Hyderabad. When he did not call till 7.30 am,I called but found his number not reachable. Later,someone called me with news of the accident and I switched on the TV. I was not sure he was on this bus. But when I went to the travel agency,his name showed up on the online bookings list, a shocked Shamima Begum said. T Suresh of Machlipatnam was returning from an interview at HP in Bangalore. He called and said he was offered a package of Rs 7 lakh and that he had decided to accept it, his father T Vidyasagar said. Priyanka Rao,daughter of Mohan Rao,Additional Judge (SC-ST Atrocities Court,Mahbubnagar),was also among the victims. The charred remains of a woman with a baby clinging to her were found by the fire and emergency personnel. They are thought be the wife and child of P Rajesh Kumar,manager with a cement company,who was in the next seat. There were heart-rending scenes at the Jabbar Travels office at Lakdikapul where relatives and friends of the victims had gathered. My friend Phani Kumar called to say he was coming by this bus. When I was coming here,I was still hoping he was not on this bus. I lost a good friend, Vishnu Kumar said. Jabbar Travels said the multi-axle bus had undergone a fitness test early this month and showed a certificate declaring it fit till October 2014. The bus was sold to Jabbar Travels by its first owner Diwakar Road Lines of former minister Diwakar Reddy in 2010. A spokesperson for Volvo said: We are going through information collated from the location. Our one team went to the accident site in the morning and another is slated to go there shortly. We are looking at the facts as they unfold and would not like to draw a conclusion till all relevant details are in.
