In the blink of an eye: survivors of Maharashtra bus accident relive ordeal

A survivor of the Buldhana bus tragedy recounted: “Everyone was screaming their lungs out for help, but the ongoing vehicles didn’t care to stop and rescue us.”

In the blink of an eye, lives changed forever for the passengers of the Pune-bound Vidharbha Travels sleeper coach bus which caught fire in Maharashtra’s Buldhana district and claimed 25 lives, including those of three children, on Saturday.

Those who managed to break the glass windows with their hands in the scorching temperatures and disorienting conditions were the only ones who could escape from the burning vehicle, and there was no way to help family members or co-passengers, survivors said.

“Everything happened in a fraction. The driver lost control, it overturned and caught fire before we could realise what was happening. Everyone was screaming their lungs out for help, but the ongoing vehicles didn’t care to stop and rescue us. Some of us managed to escape by breaking the glass windows,” a survivor recounted.

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Had the vehicles passing by stopped for help, more lives could have been saved, he said.

A private sleeper coach bus operated by Vidharbha Travels with 33 passengers onboard was on its way to Pune from Nagpur, when it met with an accident and caught fire at Pimpalkuta village near Sindkhed Raja in the early hours of Saturday.

“It’s a sleeper AC bus and everyone was in deep slumber after having dinner near Karanja in Yavatmal district. There was no room to escape as the bus overturned and fell on the door buried. We were trapped inside, and there was no chance to help others escape,” a panic-stricken passenger explained after his miraculous escape.