Telangana woman burnt alive as bus overturns, catches fire after driver falls asleep

One woman passenger was burnt to death as a Chittoor-bound private bus caught fire after it overturned in Telangana’s Jogulamba Gadwal district on Saturday, said police. One passenger suffered minor injuries in the accident.

According to the police, the incident occurred on Saturday at 3 am when the Jagan Amazon travel bus was travelling from Hyderabad to Chittoor.

The driver fell asleep as he lost control of the bus, leading to private travels carrying 40 passengers moved down the road as it overturned and caught fire, said the police.

The passengers immediately got off the bus. One woman couldn’t get down as her hand got stuck, and she was burnt to death along with the bus.

The woman, who died, is yet to be identified. A case has been registered and further investigation is underway.

According to the recent report released by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in November 2023, Telangana saw a dip in the number of road accidents from 22,230 in 2018 to 21,619 in 2022. However, 3,010 people died in 2022, up from 2,064 in 2018 — a 45.8 per cent increase of road fatalities in five years.