Mother visiting her daughter, techie returning after Diwali holidays: Families search for loved ones after Kurnool bus tragedy

“I could not believe it when someone told me about the incident. I saw her just a day ago… She used to chat with the neighbours often,” said Padmaja, a neighbour.

In Telangana’s Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district, the family of Anusha Reddy, 22, is awaiting news about her. Anusha, a techie working in Bengaluru, had boarded the bus at Lakdikapool in Hyderabad. “A lively and charming person. She had come home to celebrate Diwali,” a relative said.

K Chandana, 25, from Medak, who is also a techie, is among the missing along with her mother Sandhya. They had boarded the bus at Hyderabad’s Moosapet Y Junction. Chandana’s father works in the Gulf and had recently returned after celebrating Diwali in Medak.

According to officials in Andhra Pradesh, six people from Andhra Pradesh, six from Telangana, one from Bihar, two from Tamil Nadu, and two from Karnataka were among the dead.

Andhra Pradesh Home Minister V Anitha said that of the 19 passengers who died, 17 were adults and two were children. Anitha, who visited the site of the accident and the Kurnool Government Hospital to check on the injured, said 27 people had escaped from the bus.

She identified the six victims from Andhra Pradesh as being G Dhatri from Bapatla town, Srinivas Reddy from Ravulapalem in Konaseema district, and Golla Ramesh, along with his wife Anusha and their two children. The minister said that 16 forensic teams have been rushed to the spot to help identify the others.

“Given that the entire bus has been gutted, it is nothing short of a miracle that several passengers and the two drivers were able to escape while a great tragedy and misfortune fell on those who could not make it out alive,” she said.

The motorcyclist who died has been identified as B Siva Shankar, 24, of Kurnool.

The Telangana government has sent a team to Kurnool, including Gadwal Jogulamba district Collector B M Santosh and Superintendent of Police T Srinivas Rao, to assist in the identification of bodies and in bringing them home. Telangana Excise and Tourism Minister Jupally Krishna Rao also visited the accident site on Friday and is in touch with Andhra Pradesh ministers.

The Telangana government has announced an ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh for the kin of the deceased and Rs 2 lakh for the injured passengers from the state.

Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh to the next of kin of each deceased and Rs 50,000 to the injured. The Andhra Pradesh government has also announced Rs 5 lakh to the families of the dead and Rs 2 lakh to the injured.