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Mystery deepens in Kurnool bus fire as police suspect third vehicle involvement
New details reveal that the bus had already met with an accident when it hit the motorcycle.
Days after a massive fire in a sleeper bus in Andhra Pradesh's Kurnool district, police suspect the involvement of a third vehicle. Initial reports said the bus fire was triggered after it collided with a motorcycle that got dragged underneath it and hit the open fuel tank.
There were 44 passengers in the bus and several managed to escape after breaking the windows. Police said probe revealed that the bus, operated by V Kaveri Travels, had run over a bike lying on the highway after it had met a road accident, following which fire erupted in the bus, leaving little to no time for the passengers, most of whom were asleep, to escape.
New details reveal that the bus had already met with an accident when it hit the motorcycle, PTI reported.
According to police, the skid marks of the Kaveri Travels bus were found slightly ahead of the spot where the two-wheeler initially fell killing it's rider on the spot, suggesting that the motorbike had moved a little further after the first impact.
Also read: How bike skidded, rider died, bus caught fire: Key clues emerge in Kurnool tragedy that killed 20
"The difference in the skid mark position of the bike indicates that another vehicle could have hit it before the bus ran over it," Kurnool district superintendent of police Vikrant Patil told PTI.
He said that the police are investigating to determine whether a third vehicle was involved in this accident.
The bus was also carrying a consignment of cell phones in its luggage department. Those, along with the electric batteries attached to the bus’s AC system, are suspected to have caused the explosion in the bus as it ran over the bike.
Also read: Kurnool Bus Tragedy: 20 dead, case registered against two drivers over alleged negligence
According to forensic experts probing the case, the fire in the bus may have been intensified due to the explosion of those smartphones, Hindustan Times reported earlier.
“These new mobile phones stored in the luggage cabin of the bus might have caught fire and exploded, aggravating the blaze,” said Andhra Pradesh Fire Services Director General P Venkataramana. He added that some eyewitnesses heard popping sounds during the fire and that lithium batteries of the phones may have burst due to intense heat, aggravating the flames.
He also said that apart from phone batteries, the electric batteries attached to the AC system of the bus also exploded because of intense heat. Additionally, the spilled petrol from the bike may have also caught fire during the crash, he said.
