A fire gutted the bus within minutes while it was traveling on a highway near Andhra Pradesh’s Kurnool district on Friday, trapping dozens of passengers inside, many of them asleep, senior police official Vikrant Patil said.
Some people broke windows and jumped to safety with minor injuries, Patil said, while others burned to death before help arrived, according to the Associated Press.
18 passengers escaped from the burning bus and are still being rescued.
He is receiving treatment for his injuries. It is unclear whether anyone on the bus escaped.
Patil said the bike hit a speeding bus from behind and got stuck. It was dragged for some distance, causing sparks that engulfed the bus’s fuel tank. “As smoke started spreading, the driver stopped the bus and tried to put out the fire using a fire extinguisher, but the fire was too strong and could not be controlled,” Patil added.
The bus became hollow and an unidentified man on a bicycle was also killed.
A team of forensic experts was investigating the incident.
The bus, carrying 44 passengers, was traveling between Hyderabad in Telangana state and Bengaluru city in Karnataka state.
The accident occurred in Chinnatekul village near Kurnool, about 210 kilometers (130 miles) south of Hyderabad.
RHM/