A view of the charred remains of a passenger bus on a highway in Chinnatekuru village, in Kurnool district in Andhra Pradesh, on October 24, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP
In one of the deadliest road accidents in Andhra Pradesh in recent years, a private sleeper bus bound for Bengaluru from Hyderabad turned into a moving fireball at Chinna Tekuru village in Kalluru mandal of Kurnool district on Friday morning (October 24, 2025), killing at least 19 people and leaving several others injured, four of them critically.
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The police confirmed that the ghastly road tragedy occurred at around 3 a.m., when the bus and a motorbike suddenly collided head on, on the highway. The biker, identified as Siva Kumar (23), a resident of Kurnool, was flung to the roadside and died with a head injury instantly. His two-wheeler was trapped beneath the bus, dragging along the asphalt for nearly 300 metres. Police said petrol leaking from the bike’s tank and possibly from the bus’ fuel tank, combined with friction sparks from the road, ignited an inferno that rapidly gutted the bus.
As the fire spread, panic-stricken passengers screamed for help, and their horror intensified as the main hydraulic door jammed and failed to open. Many passengers were forced to break windows and exit through the emergency exit, while half of the passengers were trapped and charred to death.
The bus was carrying 43 persons, including 41 passengers with two children. Police confirmed that 23 persons, including two drivers, managed to escape, while 19 charred bodies were retrieved from the gutted bus. Forensic teams continued their search for one untraced passenger, whose body is suspected to have turned into ashes in the inferno. The injured survivors were rushed to the Government General Hospital in Kurnool. The police said seven of the passengers were treated as outpatients, while four were under treatment, and the remaining received superficial injuries.
Deputy Inspector General (DIG-Kurnool), Koya Praveen, who inspected the accident spot, said one of the drivers, who was on the wheel at the time of the accident, fled the spot immediately after the incident. The standby driver was detained for questioning. “We are investigating whether the bus was overspeeding and if the collision occurred owing to reckless driving by either the bus or the biker,” he said.
The DIG said preliminary investigations hinted that the friction caused by the trapped motorbike beneath the bus generated sparks, igniting the leaking petrol and eventually the diesel tank of the bus. The intensity of the fire was such that even the metal frame melted partially. He observed that the Police suspect that the bus body was made of substandard and combustible material, accelerating the fire impact.
A woman who was traveling on the same route towards Hyderabad from Puttaparthi said she noticed the bus in flames from a distance. She said she had immediately alerted Kurnool SP Vikrant Patil, who swiftly dispatched police and fire tenders to the spot. Though it was raining heavily at that time and the rescue teams and ambulances reached within minutes, the raging fire due to exploded fuel tanks made it impossible to rescue the trapped passengers.
By dawn, the accident spot presented a scene of devastation with charred bodies trapped inside the gutted bus and twisted and ash-covered metal frames. Family members and relatives of the victims from Hyderabad and Bengaluru started rushing to the site as the news spread about the accident. Kurnool Collector Dr. A. Siri said a control room was set up to assist the family members of the victims. Forensic experts commenced collecting DNA samples from the remains for identification. The police said the postmortem would be conducted at the accident site, before handing over the bodies to relatives.
The Collectors and SPs of Kurnool and Gadwal (Telangana state) districts, along with senior officials from both states, reached the spot.
Transport Minister Mandipali Ramprasad Reddy, who rushed to the spot, expressed grief over the accident, ordering a high-level probe into the incident. “A thorough investigation has been initiated to check whether the bus company (Kaveri Travels) followed safety norms and whether combustible materials were used in its design,” the Minister said. The Kurnool police registered a case and launched a search for the elusive driver.
Published – October 24, 2025 12:35 pm IST
