Telangana bus tragedy: Many passengers boarded bus after missing early morning trains

The Rajkot-Secunderabad Superfast Express train and the Bengaluru-Secunderabad Special train halt at Tandur around 4.30 am. Relatives of some of the passengers said they had intended to catch one of these trains to Hyderabad, but had left home too late and gone to the bus depot instead.

R Ravi, who works as a salesman in Hyderabad, and his wife Bujjibai, usually go to the city by train. On Monday, however, they took the bus and were injured in the accident. “If we miss either of those two trains, then we have to catch the bus as the next train arrives at Tandur only at 7.30 am, and we will reach our offices in Hyderabad late. People try to catch the train because it is more comfortable and fast… The roads are not good, so bus journeys are not preferred. This morning, we got late to leave home,” said Ravi, whose right leg has been fractured, and is admitted at the PMR Hospital along with his wife Bujjibai. His elder sister, Tarabai Naik (45), who was also on the bus with them, died in the accident.

Three sisters, Nandini, Sai Priya, and Tanusha Goud, students of Koti Women’s College, normally take the train to Hyderabad but got up late on Monday and hurried to the bus depot, said their aunt, who works as an anganwadi teacher. “The roads are not good for a bus journey, so they usually take a train,” she said.