On Thursday morning, a SeaBird sleeper coach bus collided with a truck and caught fire in Chitradurga district of Karnataka, at least nine people dead and 21 others injured. Bus driver and helper survived and are being treated in hospital, along with other passengers. Driver, who survived the accident, shared the details of the accident, he said, “I was driving the bus at a speed of around 60 to 70 kmph. All I remember is a container truck coming and hitting my vehicle. I tried to control the bus, but it was not possible. Even as I attempted to steer aside, another bus was moving in the adjacent lane. I don’t know what happened after that. I don’t remember how I got out,”. The bus helper Mohammad Sadiq shared that they left Bengaluru around 9 p.m. with 30 passengers on board. He was fast asleep when the bus collided with the truck. “All remember seeing was the truck hit the diesel tank and due to the force of the accident, I was thrown out and the driver as well.”
Karnataka bus accident eyewitness account
One of the eyewitnesses of the tragic accident, a driver of a school bus that later collided with a bus with no children injured, shared that the tanker hit the bus. “Then we heard people screaming. The other bus caught fire by that time. We helped some people, but we couldn’t do anything after the blast…” Sharing information about the accident IGP (East) B.R. Ravikanthe Gowda said at least 42 children were onboard in the school bus that collided with the bus that was burnt; however, children are safe and narrowly escaped the accident. He called it sheer luck. “The bus that was carrying school children on a tour to Dandeli was right next to the bus that caught fire. But the driver managed to swerve to the extreme left, break through the highway fencing, and come to a halt on the service road. None of the children were injured,” he noted.
Authorities confirmed that an alternative arrangement for the children was done, “The tragedy is unfortunate. A detailed investigation will be taken up.” Another eyewitness confirmed that the school bus driver helped save many lives, but because the intensity of the blast was severe, many could not be saved.
