Bus inferno raises haunting questions
Markapuram: The victims, members of bereaved families, and the locals of Markapuram are raising the hypothetical questions after witnessing how the bus and lorry burnt and killed 14 people in front of their eyes, at Rayavaram in Markapuram on Thursday.
The bus trip sheet issued by Harikrishna Travels before its departure from Jagityal mentions that it will travel through Nirmal, Nizamabad, Bheemgal, Hyderabad, Vinukonda, Podili, Kanigiri, Pamur, Duttaluru, Vinjamuru, and conclude the journey at Kaligiri. However, the bus deviated from the route at Vinukonda and tried to reach Podili through Yerragondapalem and Markapuram. Home minister V Anitha said the bus had all the necessary permissions and certificates, but the police are investigating why it was stopped at Yerragondapalem for more than 40 minutes.
Some passengers in the front seats clearly saw that the driver cut the bus to the right when he observed the truck in the last moment, and the driver of the opposite vehicle mimicked him.
Though the bus is on record as having two drivers, the man behind the wheel has been driving for more than 4 hours. The police found a 5 kg gas cylinder in the bus.
They saw no visible damage to the cylinder, and it is light in weight.
An onlooker opined that the cylinder might belong to the bus staff and be used for cooking during the layover.
The passengers who rescued others found their hands yellow, as if they had dipped them in turmeric. But they didn’t observe any yellow powder at the time of the rescue.
The place where the accident occurred is a spot where the slate stone factories dump their waste.
The waste mounds are becoming hills and obstructing the road view. The locals opined that if the bus driver or the truck drivers have a clear view of the opposite vehicle, the accident may not happen.
The victims and the bereaved families are asking what could be the reason for the detour of the bus from the assigned route, what if the bus started early or a few minutes late from Yerragondapalem, what if the gas leaked from the cylinder is reason for quick fire, why their hands turned yellow, and why didn’t the authorities remove the slate stone waste from the accident prone area earlier.
