Karnataka Tragedy:9 Burnt Alive After Truck Rams Sleeper Bus

At least nine people died in a tragic road accident early Thursday when a speeding truck rammed into a luxury sleeper bus, causing the bus to catch fire in Karnataka’s Chitradurga district, police said.

The luxury sleeper bus, operated by Seabird and bearing registration number KA-01 AE-5217, was travelling from Bengaluru to Gokarna. It had departed on Wednesday night with 29 passengers and three staff members on board.

According to police, the accident occurred when the truck jumped the road divider and collided head-on with the oncoming bus. The impact was so severe that the bus was engulfed in flames within minutes, trapping several passengers inside.

“Most of the victims were burnt alive inside the bus,” East Zone Inspector General of Police Ravikanthe Gowda told reporters. The truck driver was killed on the spot, while the bus driver and cleaner managed to escape with injuries.

Bus driver Rafiq, who is undergoing treatment, said he attempted to avoid the collision after noticing the truck speeding towards him.

“The truck came from the other side of the divider and hit the bus. It was moving very fast. I was maintaining a speed of around 60–70 kmph. After the impact, I do not remember what happened or how I was rescued,” he said.

Emergency services rushed to the scene, and firefighting teams worked for several hours to douse the blaze and recover bodies. The injured were shifted to nearby hospitals, where some remain under treatment.

In an X post following the accident, Prime Minister  Narendra Modi expressed grief over the loss of lives and announced an ex gratia of ₹2 lakh each from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) to the families of the deceased, and ₹50,000 to those injured.

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