‘Saw people burning alive’: Indore survivor recalls chilling moments from e-way bus fire

Indore: “I saw people in flames, burning alive,” recalled 22-year-old Isha Singh, recoiling in horror as those raw, distressing and unsettling scenes flashed across her mind. Travelling in the same sleeper bus returning from the Char Dham Yatra, which crashed into a trailer truck and burst into a ball of fire on the Delhi-Mumbai expressway, she was among the few lucky ones to survive.Speaking to TOI, the Indore native recounted how she was thrown off her seat by the impact of the crash and struggled to escape the smoke-filled bus while watching desperate attempts to pull trapped fellow passengers out to safety.A resident of Indore’s Lasudia and employed in a private firm, Isha had undertaken the pilgrimage with her brother, sister-in-law and three other family members. They were travelling from Rishikesh to Indore in the sleeper coach, all parked on the bus’s rear berths when the accident took place.Isha, who was awake and speaking on the phone at the time, felt the sudden impact as the bus rammed into the trailer-truck at high speed.“There was a sudden, violent jolt, throwing me off my seat into the aisle between the rear berths. The windows in the front portion of the bus cracked and crumbled to shreds within seconds as desperate screams for help filled the coach,” Isha recalled.She said the bus rammed into the trolley from the rear and dragged it for some distance before exploding into a fireball.

She alleged that the driver had appeared to be under the influence of alcohol. However, the claim couldn’t be officially corroborated till the time of going to press.The Indore resident said the conductor, who was asleep in the aisle between the rear seats, went flying towards the front portion of the bus, as he could find nothing to grab hold of. He suffered critical injuries, which eventually proved fatal.Passengers sleeping on the upper deck came hurtling down to the lower half of the vehicle as it ploughed into the trailer, she recalled, adding, “The emergency exit at the rear was locked.

Soon after the collision, an AC pipe started leaking and it looked like the bus would catch fire. However, many passengers managed to climb out through broken window panes before the flames could reach them.”The driver couldn’t escape as his legs were trapped in the cabin, she said, adding, “Many of the passengers had to climb over people lying unconscious or motionless, in sheer desperation to escape. Once outside, many of the surviving passengers began pulling the other injured occupants to safety.

However, some of the trapped passengers couldn’t be brought out and were eventually consumed by the fire. The driver’s legs were crushed inside the cabin and he couldn’t be rescued.

”Standing outside, Isha helplessly watched the fire engulf the bus. “I saw people being roasted alive,” she said, her voice breaking as those ghastly visuals came haunting back.Meanwhile, families who lost their loved ones in the bus fire were still waiting for their remains, many of which were charred beyond recognition.Even as they waited for the DNA profiling of the charred remains to establish their identities, grieving relatives were in a state of shock, struggling to come to terms with the enormity of the tragedy and their losses.