Police are investigating the scene after a Hyderabad-bound private bus caught fire after colliding with a two-wheeler near Chinnatekur in Andhra Pradesh’s Kurnool district on October 24, 2025. Photo credit: PTI
A luxury private bus traveling from Hyderabad to Bengaluru caught fire around 3:30 am on Friday (October 24, 2025) after colliding with an oncoming two-wheeler at Chinna Tekuru village in Kalluru mandal of Kurnool district. At least 19 passengers were burned to death.
Reports said flames shot out of the front of the bus immediately after impact and spread rapidly, leading to the explosion of the fuel tank. As many as 27 people, including the two drivers, escaped with or without injuries and some survivors of the incident claimed that the drivers of the ill-fated bus should have reacted in the right way to warn the passengers. They said more lives could have been saved if the drivers had managed to open the bus doors.
The injured survivors were taken to the Government General Hospital in Kurnool.
In 2023, there were 115 deaths due to bus accidents in Andhra Pradesh, according to the report on Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India 2023 by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). This was 1.41% of the total deaths (8,137) due to traffic accidents in the state that year.
Deaths due to two-wheeler accidents accounted for more than 50% of the total road accident deaths in Andhra Pradesh as shown in the figure below.
Deaths due to bus and two-wheeler accidents saw a decline in the state in 2023 compared to 2022. Deaths due to bus accidents decreased to 115 in 2023 from 221 in 2022, while deaths due to two-wheeler accidents decreased to 3,709 in 2023 from 22,13
In Andhra Pradesh in 2023, the leading cause of death due to road accidents was single-wheelers, followed by pedestrians (1,645), four-wheelers such as SUVs/cars/jeeps/etc. (715) and tricycles or auto rickshaws (646).
Published – 24 October 2025 21:10 IST
