Jumped out through broken windows amid thick smoke and fire, say Markapuram bus accident survivors

In a remarkable act of courage amid chaos, a passenger, Balaraju Kola, rescued more than five co-passengers from a burning private travel bus after it collided with a tipper lorry near Markapuram in the early hours of Thursday.

Recounting the horrific moments in an interaction with The Hindu at Government General Hospital in Markapuram, Mr. Balaraju, a mason from Hanumanthunipadu (HM Padu) mandal in Kanigiri constituency, said he was assigned the third single seat from the rear on the left side of the vehicle.

“I was browsing through my mobile phone at around 5:44 a.m and there was a blast-like sound. The glass panes shattered, and the passengers fell over each other. Within no time, thick smoke and flames engulfed the bus,” he said.

“I broke open a window using my elbow. Luckily, I found a knife and smashed more glass panes. Before jumping out, I pushed six to seven passengers out of the bus. There was no time to think. It was the best I could do amid the chaos, rapidly spreading flames and suffocating smoke,” he said.

He said the accident occurred when the bus driver, seeing an incoming tipper lorry from the opposite direction, swerved the vehicle to the right instead of moving to the left. The lorry driver too turned to the right. The bus rammed into the fuel tank of the lorry, trigerring a blast.

Mr. Balaraju said he was travelling from Nirmal to Vinjamur to bring labourers for civil works in Kamareddy district of Telangana. “Just a minute before the accident, another passenger who was preparing to alight within a few kilometres, asked me the time and it was 5:44 a.m.,” he said.

He narrated the story of his co-passenger Ambati Anil, who tried to save his five-month-old son, Leo. “Anil first pushed his wife Soujanya out of the bus. He then went back into the bus which was already in flames, searching for the baby but got trapped. Anil and the baby died,” he said.

At the hospital, Soujanya, who suffered severe burns on her back, was reportedly unaware of the loss. Eye-witnesses said she continued to ask about her baby, believing that he was alive and undergoing treatment in another ward.

Another passenger, Guravaiah, aged around 60, told The Hindu that he was scheduled to get down within five to ten minutes of the accident, but instead sustained serious injuries in the mishap.

Survivors described scenes of panic as passengers scrambled to escape the inferno, with many trapped due to the rapid spread of fire and smoke inside the air-conditioned bus.

A survivor, Ambati Soujanya, narrating about the tragedy to her relatives at the GGH in Markapuram district on Thursday.
| Photo Credit:
KOMMURI SRINIVAS

Officials said the incident claimed about 14 lives and left several injured, with rescue efforts carried out in the crucial ‘golden hour’.

Eight persons belonging to two families hailing from Vinjamur mandal of SPSR Nellore district escaped with minor injuries after the private travel bus they were on board collided with a tipper near Rayavaram in Markapuram district on Thursday early morning.

Thalapala Surendra, 25, a construction worker from Sirikonda village in Nizamabad district of Telangana, along with his family members, was returning to his native place of Nallagondla in Vinjamur mandal.

After the bus collided with the tipper, Mr. Surendra broke the window glass. He, along with his wife Chandana (21), her brother Amosh (16), two-year-old daughter Vaishnavi and six-year-old son Chandu escaped through the window before the bus went up in flames.

“After the collision, thick smoke filled the bus. We were not able to breathe properly. I did not find anything to break the window open. I punched repeatdly the glass pane to break it and helped my family members to escape,” he said.

“My wife jumped through the broken pane and fractured her leg. I pushed my two-year-old daughter through the window, but my wife could not catch her properly as she was already injured. The baby suffered a minor leg injury,” he told The Hindu.

Another family from Vinjamur also managed to come out of the bus before it caught fire. Chembeti Mallikarjuna, a mason from Kamareddy in Telangana, said, “My wife Sujatha, daughter Meghana and son Manoj Kumar were in the bus. Meghana is pursuing B. Tech first year at IIIT-Idupulapaya, while Manoj is studying intermediate first year in a private college in Vinjamur. They were going to our native place for summer holidays,” he said.

“As soon as the bus caught fire. My daughter Meghana spotted a broken window. She helped her mother and brother to go out of the vehicle and then she jumped through the window,” Mr. Mallikarjuna said.

The injured were admitted to Markapuram Government Hospital before being shifted to Ongole Government General Hospital (GGH).

Published – March 26, 2026 08:17 pm IST