Karnataka bus fire: Survivor from Bengaluru recalls how her phone helped escape death

BENGALURU: "If not for my phone, I wouldn't be alive today," said Gagana Shree, a survivor of the Chitradurga bus fire, as she recounted the terrifying moments that unfolded within seconds of impact.Gagana was travelling from Bengaluru to Gokarna in the ill-fated Seabird sleeper-coach bus with her close friends Rashmi Mahale and Rakshitha R. She has been hospitalised following injuries after a container truck rammed their bus, causing it to erupt in flames Thursday morning near Hiriyur. While Gagana and Rakshitha managed to escape, Rashmi was burnt to death. Gagana said the three were in the upper berths — seats 10U, 11U, and 12U. Gagana was on a single upper berth, while Rashmi and Rakshitha shared a double berth. "When the bus was hit, I was thrown across on to the other berth. My phone fell down and as I tried to pick it up, I realised the ladder was broken. I had no option but to jump down," she said.Moments later, she noticed fire rapidly spreading through the bus. "I jumped out through the lower-berth window. Rakshitha also escaped through her upper-berth window," Gagana said.The realisation that Rashmi had not escaped came seconds later. "We thought she was right behind us. But when we turned around after we jumped, the bus was completely engulfed in flames. We screamed for help, but the fire was so intense no one could go near the bus," she said, adding that Rashmi's death was the result of the fire spreading at unimaginable speed, leaving them with no time to react.The three friends, who worked at Deloitte in Bengaluru, were heading to Gokarna for a holiday. Rashmi, a native of Murdeshwar, planned to stay back after the trip, while Gagana and Rakshitha were scheduled to return to Bengaluru in two days.