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n the night of October 23, 2025, after holidaying in Hyderabad, Nelakurthy Ramesh, 30, boarded a bus bound for Bengaluru with his wife and two children. Sharing the journey was Ramesh’s extended family — his cousin, cousin’s wife, and their two children. All of them settled into the berths of the sleeper bus, operated by V-Kaveri Travels, a private “luxury bus service” as per its website.
The bus had started its journey from Kukatpally, a suburb in north-western Hyderabad, around 9.40 p.m. The two families boarded the bus at L.B. Stadium, which is about 9 kilometres from Kukatpally. There were 44 passengers and two drivers in the bus, according to the travel agency’s ticket list. Some of the passengers fell asleep in the air-conditioned bus, while others remained glued to their phones, their faces illuminated by the blue glow of screens.
Ramesh recalls what happened hours later. “There was a thud that shook me out of sleep,” he says. “I thought a tyre was punctured and the driver would stop, but he continued to drive.” He checked his phone. It was 3 a.m.
A few seconds later, he noticed thick smoke emanating from the driver’s cabin. “Someone from the back shouted, ‘Fire! Fire!’ We saw flames in the front of the bus,” says Ramesh.
