The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Miraculous escape for students

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Sunday, Feb 17, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Miraculous escape for students

Staff Reporter

INFERNO: The tourist bus in flames after coming in contact with power lines in Maddulagudem village, in Vararamachandrapuram mandal, on Saturday.

KHAMMAM: Sixty-two students and seven teachers on a trip to the Papi Hills on the banks of Godavari for picnicking had a miraculous escape when their bus caught fire on Saturday.

The tourist bus carrying them all was up in flames after coming in contact with power lines as it approached Maddulagudem – a forest village in Vararamachandrapuram mandal.

The occupants who survived the electric shock, found themselves engulfed in fire the very next moment.

The bus caught fire as the snapped power lines landed on it. The driver was the first to notice the tyres burning. He stopped the vehicle and asked the children to jump out. Village people were prompt in responding to what could have been a major tragedy.

Some youths ventured into the burning bus and pushed the children out of the windows and the emergency exit. They broke open the front windshield making a way out for the teachers too.

The entire bus was reduced to ashes within an hour as the panic-stricken students watched from a distance.

Unexpected

They had begun their journey from the Zilla Parishad High School at Manjupahad near Narmetta in Warangal district on Friday night and reached Bhadrachalam in the morning.

They started on the second leg of the journey after breakfast in the temple town.

The students were singing and dancing as the bus approached its destination when the accident took place.

“None of us would have survived but for the prompt assistance from the village people,” said Jhansi, headmistress in-charge who accompanied the students.

The police from Vararamachandrapuram provided food to the students and the teachers and arranged transport for their return to Narmetta.

According to reports, the sarpanch and the MPTC member of Manjupahad village, Kumaraswamay and K. Ramesh, accompanied the children along with the teachers on the trip.

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