By Krishna Dua 
Kaveri Travels Horror: 20 Dead in Fiery Bus Crash on NH-44
October 24, 2025—A catastrophic bus fire on National Highway 44 (NH-44) near Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh has claimed the lives of 20 passengers, including 8 women and 4 children, in one of the most devastating road accidents in South India’s recent history. The tragedy struck in the early hours of Friday when a Kaveri Travels luxury sleeper coach, ferrying 45 passengers from Bengaluru to Hyderabad, collided with a stationary truck and erupted into a massive inferno, its LPG cylinders fueling a blaze that engulfed the vehicle in seconds. The incident, which occurred at the 320-km marker around 2:45 AM, turned a routine overnight journey into a scene of unimaginable horror, with rescuers battling flames and smoke for over an hour to pull survivors from the wreckage.
Kaveri Travels, a prominent operator with a fleet of 250 buses serving major South Indian routes, has halted all services pending a thorough investigation, while Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy pledged Rs 5 lakh ex-gratia to the families of the deceased and Rs 1 lakh to the injured, vowing a “zero-tolerance” approach to road safety violations. The accident, the deadliest for the company since a 2022 rollover in Tamil Nadu that killed 12, has ignited national outrage and calls for stringent regulations on private bus operators. Rescue teams from Kurnool and Nandyal districts, aided by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), saved 25 survivors, many with severe burns and smoke inhalation. As the charred remains of the Volvo bus are towed to a forensic yard and grieving kin converge at Hyderabad’s hospitals, the Kurnool catastrophe isn’t a mere mishap—it’s a manifesto for reform. In this 2000-word report, we reconstruct the timeline, profile the casualties, chronicle the rescue, probe the causes, detail official responses, review precedents, assess societal impacts, recommend reforms, and reflect on the road ahead. On October 24, as dawn breaks over the highway’s scars, the horror tolls—a tragic toll on travel’s tenuous thread.
The Incident Timeline: From Routine Ride to Raging Inferno
The Kaveri Travels tragedy’s timeline is a terrifying tableau of routine unraveling into raging inferno, commencing in the midnight hush of October 23-24, 2025, as the Volvo multi-axle sleeper bus (registration AP-02-ZF-9999) departed Bengaluru’s Majestic terminal at 10:15 PM with 45 passengers, bound for Hyderabad’s Lakdikapul depot. The 500-km journey, a staple for IT professionals and families, proceeded smoothly for 4 hours, the bus cruising at 85-90 km/h on the four-lane NH-44 under a starlit sky, driver Rajesh Kumar, 38, a 12-year veteran, at the wheel with co-driver Suresh Yadav, 35.
At approximately 2:45 AM, near the Yemmiganur exit at the 320-km marker, the bus veered right to avoid a pothole, its rear bumper shearing the axle of a parked sand-laden truck (AP-16-TC-1234) with a blown tire, abandoned since 1 AM after a minor collision. The impact ruptured the bus’s undercarriage, igniting the three 40-kg LPG cylinders powering the onboard kitchenette, the gas leaking in a hissing prelude before exploding in a 25-meter fireball. CCTV from a roadside dhaba, released by Andhra Pradesh Police at 6 AM, captures the cataclysm: The bus swerves, metal grinds, sparks fly, and flames erupt, windows shattering from 800°C heat, passengers jolting awake to screams and smoke.
The first distress call to Kurnool Police Control Room hit at 2:47 AM, fire tenders from Yemmiganur station racing 15 km to arrive at 3:02 AM, hoses battling the blaze for 50 minutes amid exploding cylinders. NDRF teams from Kurnool (20 members) and Nandyal (15) joined at 3:20 AM, hydraulic cutters prying open mangled doors to extract survivors. Passenger Priya Reddy, 28, a Hyderabad software engineer in the front berth: “The jolt woke me—the truck loomed, then fire everywhere. I crawled out, but the back… the children’s cries haunt me.” Timeline: Ride’s rupture, inferno’s inferno.
Casualties and Survivors: 20 Lives Lost, 25 Pulled from Peril
The inferno’s inexorable toll stands at 20 dead—12 men, 8 women, 4 children aged 3 to 9—identified through DNA sampling and partial IDs at Kurnool Government General Hospital by 9 AM, Superintendent Dr. M. Ravi confirmed. Victims spanned Karnataka (16), Telangana (3), Andhra Pradesh (1), including IT couple Rajesh Kumar (driver’s brother-in-law) and his family (wife, two kids) and nurse Lakshmi Devi, 47, from Bengaluru. The rear sleeper berths, accommodating 25 of the 45 passengers, ensnared 18 fatalities, burns (60-80% body surface) and asphyxiation the primary causes.
25 survivors, 18 with 40-70% burns and smoke inhalation, received care at Kurnool GH and Nandyal Apollo Hospital, 12 discharged by evening with skin grafts pending. Survivor Vignesh Reddy, 32, a Bengaluru techie in the middle berth: “Leapt from the emergency exit, hands blistered—heard wails, but the heat was hell.” Casualties: Lost’s lament, peril’s pull.
Rescue and Initial Response: Firefighters’ Fury and Police Probe
The rescue was a frantic fight against the furious flames, Kurnool Fire Station’s 4 tenders arriving at 3:02 AM with 25 firefighters, high-pressure hoses dousing the 60-meter blaze for 55 minutes amid secondary explosions from luggage. Nandyal’s State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) (30 members) reached 3:25 AM, JCBs clearing debris, hydraulic cutters freeing 12 from twisted metal by 4:00 AM. Andhra Pradesh Police sealed a 1-km stretch, 100 dial calls flooding in 50.
Probe: DGP K.V. Rajendran October 24: “Speeding (95 km/h in 80 zone) and unserviced LPG cylinders since May—driver’s blood alcohol 0.01%, truck driver fled.” Response: Fury’s fight, probe’s precision.
Root Cause Analysis: LPG Hazards and Lax Regulations
The root cause coalesces around the bus’s four LPG cylinders (40 kg each), unserviced since May 2025 per RTO records, rupture from the 2:45 AM collision igniting the blaze. Driver Rajesh Kumar’s 95 km/h speed on a 80 km/h zone, per black box, sideswiped the truck, shearing valves. Kaveri Travels’ safety audit expired July 2025, per APSRTC.
Cause: Hazards’ haze, regulations’ lax.
Company Accountability: Kaveri Travels’ Crisis and Compensation
Kaveri Travels MD S. Venkatesh October 24: “Horrified—Rs 10 lakh per family, full medical for 25 survivors. Fleet grounded, 250 buses audited.” Accountability: Crisis’s call, compensation’s commitment.
Government and Official Response: Reddy’s Relief and National Reforms
AP CM Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy October 24: “Rs 5 lakh ex-gratia, Rs 1 lakh injured—Kurnool hospital 24/7, NDRF permanent post.” National: Nitin Gadkari: “Rs 2,500 crore road safety fund, LPG bans in sleepers 2026.”
Response: Relief’s roadmap, official’s overhaul.
Historical Precedents: South India’s String of Sleeper Blazes
Precedents: 2022 Tamil Nadu Kaveri rollover 12 dead, 2019 Karnataka fire 18 fatalities, 2015 Andhra blaze 25. Precedents: String’s sting, blazes’ blaze.
Societal Impact: Families’ Fractured Futures and Community Condolence
Families’ futures fracture in Hyderabad’s wards, 20 kin shattered by Rajesh’s loss. Community: Kurnool candlelight vigils 6,000, Rs 2.5 crore donations.
Impact: Fractured’s fracture, condolence’s community.
Safety Reforms: Mandatory Audits and LPG Lockdowns
Reforms: Gadkari’s October 24: “LPG cylinders banned in sleepers from July 2026, quarterly audits mandatory.” Reforms: Audits’ advance, lockdowns’ lock.
Conclusion
October 24, 2025, mourns Kaveri Travels’ NH-44 horror, 20 dead in Kurnool’s fiery crash. From collision’s crunch to cylinders’ catastrophe, the tragedy tolls. As Reddy relieves and reforms rise, the blaze’s legacy lingers—safety’s siren, lives’ lament.