Kurnool bus fire: Police say petrol leak, friction sparks possibly led to flames

In one of the deadliest road accidents in Andhra Pradesh in recent years, a private sleeper bus from Hyderabad to Bengaluru turned into a moving fireball at Chinna Tekuru village in Kalluru mandal of Kurnool district on Friday morning, October 24, 2025, killing at least 19 people and injuring many others, including four critically.

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Police confirmed that the terrible road disaster occurred around 03:00 at night when a bus and a motorcycle suddenly collided head-on on the highway. The cyclist, identified as Siva Kumar (23), a resident of Kurnool, was thrown onto the roadside and died instantly as a result of a head injury. His two-wheeler was crushed under the bus and dragged for about 300 meters on the asphalt. Police said gasoline leaking from the bike’s tank and possibly the bus’s fuel tank, along with sparks from friction from the road, ignited a fire that quickly gutted the bus.

As the fire spread, panicked passengers screamed for help, their fears compounded when the main hydraulic door became stuck and could not be opened. While many passengers had to break the windows and exit through the emergency exit, half of the passengers were trapped and burned to death.

There were 43 people on the bus, including 41 passengers and 2 children. Police confirmed that 23 people, including two drivers, managed to escape, and 19 burnt bodies were removed from the bus, whose interior was destroyed. Forensic medicine teams continued their search for a passenger whose body was suspected to have turned to ashes in hell and whose trace could not be found. The injured were taken to Kurnool Government Hospital. Police said seven of the passengers were treated as outpatients, four were under treatment, and the rest suffered superficial injuries.

Deputy Inspector General (DIG-Kurnool) Koya Praveen, who inspected the accident spot, said that one of the drivers who was behind the wheel at the time of the accident fled the scene immediately after the incident. The pending driver was detained for questioning. “We are investigating whether the bus was overspeeding and whether the collision occurred as a result of careless driving of the bus or the cyclist,” he said.

The DIG said preliminary investigations hinted that friction caused by the motorcycle trapped under the bus created sparks, leaked petrol and eventually ignited the diesel tank of the bus. The intensity of the fire was so great that even the metal frame partially melted. He observed that the police suspected that the body of the bus was made of substandard and flammable material, which accelerated the effect of the fire.

A woman traveling on the same route from Puttaparthi to Hyderabad said she noticed the bus in flames from a distance. He said he immediately alerted Kurnool SP Vikrant Patil, who quickly dispatched police and fire brigade to the scene. Although it was raining heavily at that time and rescue teams and ambulances arrived within minutes, the fire that grew due to exploding fuel tanks made it impossible to rescue the trapped passengers.

At dawn, the crash site presented a scene of devastation, with charred bodies trapped inside the gutted bus and metal frames twisted and covered in ash. As the news of the accident spread, family members and relatives of the victims in Hyderabad and Bengaluru started flocking to the scene. Kurnool Collector Dr. A. Siri said a control room has been set up to assist family members of the victims. Forensic experts began collecting DNA samples from the remains for identification. Police said an autopsy will be performed at the scene of the accident before the bodies are handed over to their relatives.

Collectors and SPs of Kurnool and Gadwal (Telangana state) districts and senior officials from both the states reached the spot.

Transport Minister Mandipali Ramprasad Reddy, who arrived at the scene, expressed sadness over the accident and ordered a high-level investigation into the incident. “A thorough investigation has been launched to check whether the bus company (Kaveri Travels) complies with safety norms and whether flammable material has been used in its design,” the minister said. Kurnool police launched an investigation into the incident and began searching for the elusive driver.