Kurnool bus fire: Biker was drunk, say police as they piece together night’s events
Forensic report confirms two bike-borne youths, Siva Shankar and Erriswamy, were drunk; their two-wheeler skidded and was run over by the bus, sparking the fire
Andhra Pradesh police have put together some missing pieces of the puzzle involving the Kurnool bus accident that sparked a massive fire that left 19 passengers dead early on Friday (October 24).
First, they confirmed on Sunday (October 26) that the two bike-borne youths connected to the accident were drunk. Though police were aware that the duo was likely in an inebriated condition, they did not confirm this fact earlier as they were waiting for forensic evidence.
“We just received the forensic confirmation that the two bike-borne persons (Siva Shankar and Erriswamy) were drunk,” Kurnool Range Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police Koya Praveen told news agency PTI.
Also read: Kurnool bus fire: 234 smartphones in luggage cabin likely intensified blaze
Duo was drunk
The DIG said on Saturday night that the duo had food in a dhaba, and that Erriswamy had admitted to consuming liquor.
According to police, Shankar and Erriswamy had started off on the two-wheeler from Lakshmipuram village around 2 am on October 24 to drop the latter at Tuggali village in Kurnool district.
En route, the duo halted at an HP petrol bunk near a Kia car showroom to fill petrol at 2.24 am, said Kurnool Superintendent of Police, Vikrant Patil. A video of their halt at the petrol bunk has now gone viral, and Shankar can be seen riding the two-wheeler rashly.
Also read: Kurnool bus fire: Did the biker's recklessness trigger the accident?
The first accident
According to what Erriswamy told the police, as reported by PTI, shortly after they resumed their journey, the two-wheeler skidded, thanks to a wet and muddy road because of rain, at Chinna Tekuru village in Kurnool district.
In the impact, Shankar fell and his head hit the road divider to his right. He reportedly died on the spot. Erriswamy, who was also injured from the fall, got up and pulled Shankar’s body from the carriageway and checked him. But he was already dead, Patil said, quoting the youth.
“Even as he was thinking of pulling the bike aside, the sleeper bus rushed in and ran over it, dragging it forward up to some distance,” Patil told PTI.
That explains why the bus driver, Miryala Lakshmaiah, told the police earlier that he could not see the bike from a distance. It was of black colour and blended into the metalled road.
Also read: What led to Kurnool bus blaze? Here is the official version
The second accident
As the two-wheeler was being dragged forward underneath the bus on its way to Bengaluru, its fuel tank burst and sparked a fire. In the belly of the bus was a package of 234 smart phones with their lithium-ion batteries. Those, along with the bus’s own batteries and other flammable products in the luggage, acted like a bomb, causing a massive inferno, it has been stated earlier.
Following the two back-to-back accidents and the bus getting engulfed in a raging fire in front of his eyes, Erriswamy reportedly got scared and left for his village of Tuggali.
Later, police picked him up and questioned him to unearth the crucial details of the ghastly accident. There were 44 passengers on the bus and all but 19 managed to escape.
(With agency inputs)