Minister for Home Vangalapudi Anitha on Friday said the government has constituted 16 forensic teams to carry out a thorough investigation into the Kurnool bus fire tragedy, in which 19 passengers were charred to death at Chinna Tekuru village of Kalluru mandal of Kurnool district in the early hours of Friday.
Addressing a press conference here, after inspecting the accident site and calling on the injured at the Kurnool Government Hospital, Ms. Anitha said that cases had already been registered over the tragic incident, and strict action would be taken against those responsible.
The Minister said that the bus had a valid All India permit and fitness certificates, but “preliminary probe indicates that combustible materials inside the sleeper coach aggravated the inferno.”
Ms. Anitha announced the formation of a high-level committee, comprising officials from the Police, Transport, and Revenue departments, to probe the circumstances that led to the accident and recommend suitable steps to prevent the recurrence of such tragedies. “It came to our notice that private travel operators at night often encourage carrying goods that are inflammable in nature, posing a grave risk to the safety of passengers,” she said.
