The investigation into the Kurnool bus fire has turned in a new and unexpected direction. According to a report from The Indian Express, Andhra Pradesh police are now searching for a third driver from an entirely separate bus, who they believe played a key role in the accident.
Police believe the tragic chain of events started when a biker, Shiva Shankar, who was drunk, had an accident. Kurnool DIG K Praveen explained to The Indian Express that Shankar collided with his head against the divider and died on the spot, while his passenger, Yerri Swamy, fell onto the grass on the divider and survived. After this first crash, the motorcycle was left lying near the divider.
Police checked CCTV footage from a nearby petrol pump, which showed 14 other vehicles managed to pass the accident spot. However, police believe another bus, operated by the third driver they are now looking for, accidentally hit the fallen bike. This bus dragged the motorcycle into the middle of the road and then callously left it there before driving off.
A few moments later, the Kaveri Travels bus, which was on its way from Hyderabad to Bengaluru, was the next vehicle to pass. It couldn’t avoid the bike now lying in the middle of the road. The bus hit the bike and dragged it for about 300 meters. This caused the bike’s fuel tank to burst into flames, which then set the entire bus on fire, killing 19 passengers.
DIG Praveen explained that they discovered this after receiving dashboard footage from another bus that had passed the area. “We realised the bike was dragged to the middle of the road by another bus,” he said, because the footage clearly showed the bike had “fallen near the divider, not in the middle of the road” after the first crash.
Police say the entire tragedy could have been avoided if the driver of that other bus had simply stopped and moved the bike to the side of the road after hitting it. For now, police are still working to figure out who this mystery driver was.
In the meantime, they have already arrested two people from the Kaveri Travels bus: the driver, M. Lakshmaiah, and the bus owner, Vemuri Vinod Kumar. The bus’s second driver, Shiva Narayana, who helped rescue passengers from the fire, has not been arrested.
