Karnataka bus tragedy: 5-year-old girl among 6 dead in fire; 28 injured

CHITRADURGA: A night journey turned into an inferno on a Karnataka highway early Thursday after a sleeper coach bus carrying 31 passengers was smashed by a container truck, killing six people, including a five-year-old girl, and leaving 28 with burn injuries.

Among those killed were Bindu Darshan, 29, and her daughter Greya, 5, from Girinagar area of south Bengaluru, and software professionals HC Manasa, 27, AM Navya, 26, and Rashmi R Mahale, 24. Truck driver Kuldeep, 29, was found burned to death inside the cabin.


When fire personnel extinguished the bus blaze, they found Greya had died hugging her mother.

Bus driver Mohammed Rafiq was hospitalised with injuries, while cleaner Sadiq was thrown out of the vehicle. "Fellow motorists pulled out a few passengers from the burning bus," police said.

The crash happened around 2 am on Bengaluru-Pune national highway near Hiriyur town in Chitradurga district of central Karnataka, 170km northwest of Bengaluru. The bus operated by Seabird Travels was heading from Bengaluru to Gokarna, a beach town on the state's coast in Uttara Kannada district.

Police said the Haryana-registered truck travelling in the opposite direction jumped the road divider and ploughed into the right side of the bus, triggering a fire that quickly engulfed lower berths and trapped sleeping passengers.

IG (eastern range) BR Ravikanthe Gowda said preliminary findings point to negligence by the truck driver.

CM Siddaramaiah announced compensation of Rs 5 lakh for each victim's family and Rs 50,000 for those injured. PM Narendra Modi announced Rs 2 lakh for families of those killed and Rs 50,000 for the injured.

The tragedy adds to a string of deadly bus accidents across India. On Oct 24, 19 people died in Andhra Pradesh's Kurnool district after a bus caught fire. On Oct 14, a bus travelling from Jaisalmer to Jodhpur burst into flames after in Nagaur, killing 11.
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