On the morning of March 12, 1995, passengers had boarded a bus of the J Jayalalitha Transport Corporation (JJTC) from Broadway in Madras (as Chennai was known then). The bus was bound for Bangalore (now Bengaluru). Over an hour into its journey, the bus was proceeding closer to Greenland Hotel, a highway eatery in Sunguvarchathram, about 55 kms from Madras, where long distance buses would halt for refreshment those days.
Elsewhere, at K Podavur Village in neighbouring Kancheepuram district, many men, women and children, boarded a tractor-trailer. They were en route to Palla Mulachur to attend the betrothal of a young woman, Kokila.
The people on both vehicles were unaware that their fates would meet shortly that day at Senthamangalam village near Sunguvarchathram.
Around noon, a speeding tanker came on the highway, which was then a single road with lush agriculture fields on either side. The driver tried to overtake the tractor-trailer, hit its front portion and collided with the oncoming JJTC bus. In a flash all three vehicles were engulfed in flames. Within the next “three to four minutes”, the flames consumed at least 49 people including women and children. It took two hours for eight fire tenders, from Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur and Madras to put out the blaze.
The victim count was based on the skulls found at the spot. “This included 33 in the tractor, 12 in the bus and the two in the tanker. The skulls were found inside the bus, underneath it and in the tractor-trailer. Some of the victims in the bus and in the tanker were found in sitting posture. One of the bus passengers with a babe in arms was found in the same position, charred,” described a report in The Hindu.
“It was a heap of skulls and bones, sans flesh in the tractor soon after the accident…A scorched body, stated to be that of the conductor was found on the footboard [of the bus], perhaps indicating his vain attempt to escape from the leaping flames,” the report said.
Following the collision, the flames had leapt on to the grass and on to the thorny bushes on the roadside charring the greenery. Even a snake in a bush was roasted alive.
Lakshmi Ammal, who was working in a nearby paddy field told this newspaper she heard a loud bang and in a trice “flames leapt up as high as a coconut tree”. She heard screams but only for a few seconds and from then on it was only the crackling sound of the flames.
Flames, ordinarily, don’t leap that high. But the tanker from Thane in Maharasthra was carrying a consignment of benzene, an aromatic compound which is highly volatile and extremely inflammable. “Mere inhalation of the hydrocarbon, extracted from naphtha, can be fatal. When it forms a vapour with the surrounding open air, the minutest spark — even from friction — can ignite it,” said a report.
Incidentally, this was the third fire accident in the country that month caused by vehicles transporting inflammable chemicals. Just a few days earlier, an inferno had killed over 20 people on the Delhi-Haridwar Highway when a truck carrying concentrated sulphuric acid caught fire after a tyre burst. Also, a tanker carrying LPG from the Cochin Refineries Limited had overturned and engulfed in flames near Cochin (now Kochi).
Among those who perished on the spot were 34 villagers on the tractor-trailer including 12 women and eight children. Most children, who would otherwise be playing in the village, had hopped on to the vehicle hoping for a joy ride, just 15 minutes before the inferno charred them. A 20-year-old youth Vijayakumar from K Podavur lost his father, mother and sister in the blaze. The crew of the bus and 10 passengers and the tanker’s driver and cleaner were among the dead.
Many others who sustained burn injuries were rushed to the Kancheepuram Government Hospital, Kilpauk Medical College Hospital in Madras and the Sirperumbudur Government Hospital.
Since many persons were charred, initially it was feared the toll could go up beyond 100. However, over the next few days, the toll was put at 54, with some of those admitted in hospitals succumbing.
There were some lucky survivors like Swaminathan, seated in the rear of the bus, who jumped out by smashing the glass pane. Five occupants of the tractor too managed to exit on time. Another man Paranthaman of Athabakkam village was lucky, in a different sense. Minutes before the accident, he had offered prayers at the local church and sought a lift from the Benzene-laden tanker. The driver did not stop. Later, he boarded a tempo and proceeded only to find the tanker ablaze.
Tailpiece: Two months later Kokila got married. This enraged a 46-year old villager, Chengalvarayan, whose brother was on board the ill-fated tractor-tailor on the day of her scheduled betrothal. He stabbed her father Singaram with a knife causing injuries on his shoulder and face asking “How dare you celebrate your daughter’s wedding when the village is still in mourning?”
Published – October 29, 2025 05:00 am IST
