E-Paper
How bike skidded, rider died, bus caught fire: Key clues emerge in Kurnool tragedy that killed 20
The bike rider, Siva Shankar, allegedly died on the spot after the two-wheeler skidded on the road and hit the divider.
The police on Saturday said that the bike involved in the Kurnool bus fire incident had reportedly met with an accident earlier, which led to the death of its rider.
The bike rider, Siva Shankar, allegedly died on the spot after the two-wheeler skidded on the road and hit the divider, before the bus ran over the vehicle, PTI news agency quoted Kurnool district Superintendent of Police Vikrant Patil as saying.
While the driver of the two-wheeler lost his life, the pillion rider, Erri Swamy, escaped with minor injuries, according to SP Patil. The police said that questioning Swamy helped in establishing the sequence of events, and revealed that two separate accidents had taken place in quick succession. The first one being the two-wheeler accident, and the second one involving the sleeper bus running over it.
Both Shankar and Swamy left Lakshmipuram village around 2 am on Friday to drop the latter at Tuggali village, PTI quoted police as saying.
“While approaching Chinna Tekuru village, the two-wheeler skidded, and Siva Shankar fell to his right, hitting the divider,” Patil said, adding that the driver died on the spot, but Swamy had survived with minor injuries.
A video footage of both riders has surfaced, which shows them stopping at the HP petrol bunk near the Kia car showroom to refuel at 2.24 am.
Shortly after, their bike skidded, potentially owing to the wet and muddy roads following rainfall, which led to Shankar falling and hitting the divider.
“When Swamy pulled Shankar from the middle of the road and checked his breath, he realised that Shankar had died on the spot,” Patil said, adding that as he tried to move the bike aside, the bus ran over it and dragged it to some dustance.
Nineteen of the 40 passengers travelling in the private bus died in the fire accident after it ran over the two-wheeler and caught fire, according to PTI.
