Bengaluru: Three buses catching fire in a span of 15 days isn't something that can be ignored as road accidents. The buses involved in accidents were from different Travel companies and were on different routes, but there was some commonality. They were all high-end AC buses and were in some way connected to Bengaluru.
The primary reason for two of the three accidents was negligence of the driver, still one can't help wondering what's wrong with buses either originating or approaching Bengaluru? Is the bus travel on Bengaluru roads becoming so unsafe?
In today's fire mishap near Haveri, seven persons were killed while 40 others were injured when a Bengaluru-Mumbai bus belonging to National Travels caught fire after hitting a road median near Kunimelli bridge, about 14 km from Hubli.
The Volvo us with 52 people on board had left Bengaluru last night and the accident happened in the early morning. The air conditioned multi-axle Volvo bus with 51 passengers on board had left Bangalore last night and met with the tragedy around 2.30 AM near Kunimeli bridge. Most of the bus passengers escaped by jumping out through the emergency exit, police said.
The driver at the wheel escaped and was reported absconding while his assistant is one of the victims, which also included a toddler, Haveri district Superintendent of Police Shashi Kumar said.
All the bodies were charred beyond recognition and might require DNA test for identification, police said. A Pune-bound passenger broke open the emergency window which helped several people escape the burning bus and save their lives.
The tragedy came two weeks after 45 passengers were charred to death when a Bengaluru-Hyderabad Volvo bus belonging to Jabbar Travels burst into flames after its fuel tank caught fire in Mahbubnagar district of Andhra Pradesh.
In this October 30 tragedy, the bus that originated from Bengaluru was heading to Hyderabad when around 5 am, the diesel tank of the bus hit a culvert and its fuel tank burst. The entire bus was engulfed in flames in a matter of minutes on NH 44.
Five passengers, the driver Feroze Khan and cleaner Ayyaz, managed to escape with burn injuries.
Meanwhile, a major tragedy was averted on November 8 when 35 passengers in a bus from Hassan to Bengaluru had a miraculous escape. The KSRTC Vaibhav, manufactured by Tata, was gutted in an accidental fire near Goraguntepalya Signal on Tumkur Road, 14 km from Bengaluru.
What saved the lives was the timely action by the driver, who was the first to notice sparks in the engine around 4.45 pm.
