Kurnool bus tragedy: 2nd driver in spotlight — from rescuing passengers to ‘changing statements’

Charred remains of a Hyderabad-bound private bus that caught fire after a collision with a two-wheeler, near Chinnatekur in Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh, Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. At least 12 people were killed in the accident. (PTI Photo)

He told The Indian Express, “It was raining heavily and there was no visibility. The bus hit a bike and dragged the bike under it, but driver Lakshmaiah did not notice this at first.” By the time the driver noticed something was wrong and applied the brakes, the fire had already broken out, he said. According to Siva, when he woke up, there was smoke everywhere and the doors were jammed. “I knew that the windows would give way if enough force is applied. Then I found a rod and broke open the other windows,” he said. After this, he pulled several passengers out of the burning bus, witnesses said.

One of the survivors, Subramaiam, said, “The first person to help me out was a young man. I later realised he was one of the drivers.”

Following the incident, the man who was driving the bus, Lakshmaiah, fled the scene. Police booked Lakshmaiah and took Siva into custody.

After questioning him, police alleged that Siva changed his statement about the accident. Initially, he had said that Lakshmaiah woke him up and told him that the bus had hit something and that it could be serious, following which they discovered that the motorcycle was wedged under the bus, police said. Later, however, police said Siva allegedly changed his statement and claimed that the motorcycle and its rider were already lying on the road due to a “previous accident”, and that Lakshmaiah drove over them unknowingly, triggering the fire.

Investigating officers in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh expressed suspicion that Siva had been “tutored”. “Owners of travel companies often tutor drivers to mislead police so that the company doesn’t come under investigation,” one officer said.

The Andhra Pradesh government appeared to share that view. “When an accident involving these luxury AC buses occurs, especially late in the night, the drivers first call their owners — not police or fire or ambulance. The owners advise the driver what to say to the police. The driver of this bus, who fled when his passengers were facing death, must be a savage,” Andhra Pradesh Transport Minister M Ramprasad Reddy told The Indian Express.

According to investigators, the fire spread within two minutes, leaving passengers little time to escape. “The driver did not tell the second driver that after he hit the motorcycle, he dragged it for at least 300 metres, and this friction could have resulted in that deadly fire,” one officer said.

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