Kurnool, India (October 25) – A tragic bus fire that killed 19 people on a quiet morning has entered a new phase as police detain a motorcycle rider who is believed to have set the blaze in motion. B. Shiva Shankar, 22, was riding a motorbike that was hit by a bus, and he died instantly on the spot. His pillion passenger, Erriswamy, survived with minor injuries after fleeing the scene once the bus ignited.
Investigators are questioning Erriswamy now as authorities broaden the inquiry into how the motorbike, caught under the bus, sparked the massive fire. They need to determine whether the bike was already damaged before the bus could strike it, or if the bus collided from behind and ran over a still‑moving motorcycle.
The bus, belonging to a private travel company, was carrying 44 passengers and headed from Hyderabad to Bengaluru on National Highway‑44. The crash near Chinnatekur village on Kurnool’s outskirts happened between 3:00 and 3:15 a.m. Of the 44 people, 19, including two children, were charred to death, while 27 others—drivers included—escaped by breaking the bus’s glass windows.
Preliminary evidence suggests that the bike was trapped beneath the bus’s undercarriage. Friction and fuel leakage from the motorcycle likely ignited the fire, which quickly spread across the bus. Police examined traffic camera footage of the highway, spotting the motorcycle a few minutes before the collision, parked near a petrol station.
Surveillance shows that Shiva Shankar was riding his Pulsar bike recklessly at about 2:22 a.m., arriving at a petrol pump with his pillion. The pump manager described the rider as looking drunk and swaggering like a stuntman; someone walked away to refuel while the bike was parked. Only one of the three dispensing units was open, and though the rider paid in cash, no record of the amount of fuel added remains.
The victim’s body lay 200 metres from where the bus caught fire, suggesting the bus may have dragged the bike that distance before ice‑cracking in a fatal blaze. CCTV footage of the bus as it passed the petrol pump is now under review to estimate driving speed and confirm the bus’s role.
Both bus drivers, Laxmaiah and Siva Narayana, are already in police custody. The motorcycle duo had left Kurnool for Dhone early Friday in search of work; after the accident, Erriswamy fled the site and was later apprehended at his home in Rampalli village, Tuggali mandal.
The ongoing investigation aims to untangle the chain of events that led to the devastating bus fire tragedy and hold those responsible to account. The incident has sparked renewed calls for stricter road safety measures and better enforcement of driving under the influence, whether for motorbike or bus operators.
Source: ianslive
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