DHAKA:  Seven people, including a child, were burnt to death and many passengers injured when a privately-run luxury bus caught fire late last night, hours after leaving Bangalore for Mumbai.

There were 49 passengers on board; 41 managed to break the windows and jump out of the burning bus. Two drivers who had run away, and were also burnt, will be arrested soon, the police said.

The bus was driving through Haveri town in north Karnataka at about 3 am, when it hit a road divider and the diesel tank burst in a terrifying rerun of a gruesome accident just two weeks ago, when another bus from Bangalore had caught fire killing all 45 on board.

The bus that burst into flames last night belonged to National Travels, reportedly owned by Shakeel Ahmed, the brother of JD-S MLA Jameel Ahmed.

The bodies of the dead are yet to be identified. The police said some of the passengers were charred beyond recognition.

The injured are being treated at the Haveri district hospital and some have been shifted to the Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital in Hubli.

On October 30, 45 people were killed when a Hyderabad-bound bus from Bangalore caught fire after hitting a road divider, causing the fuel tank to burst on the national highway in Mahabubnagar district of Andhra Pradesh.

Both accidents took place in the middle of the night when most passengers were asleep.

Source: NDTV
BDST: 1010 HRS, NOV 14, 2013
RS/BSK