“If I had not missed my bus, I would not have encountered this accident,” said Varun, a 25-year-old software engineer working in Bengaluru, who narrowly escaped death after a container truck rammed into a luxury sleeper bus on National Highway 48 in Hiriyur taluk of Karnataka’s Chitradurga district in the early hours of Thursday.
Mr. Varun told The Hindu that he had been waiting at Goraguntepalya after missing his scheduled bus when the sleeper bus arrived about 15 minutes later. As he was travelling only up to Chitradurga, he asked the conductor for a seat and was told that an upper berth at the rear of the bus was available.
Recounting the moments before the crash that took six lives, Mr. Varun said that exactly at 2.01 a.m., his mobile phone abruptly lost network connectivity, following which the emergency SOS feature on his phone was triggered due to sudden impact. Mr. Varun was occupying an upper-right berth when the container truck hit the bus.
“I jumped down, broke the window and managed to pull another passenger out,” he said. “Within 40 seconds, everything was burning. Nothing was visible. Thick smoke engulfed the bus, and we could not make out if people were still inside or even where to run,” he said.
He said survivors struggled to contact emergency services due to poor mobile connectivity in the area. “We tried calling for help and kept moving till we regained network. When we finally did, we shared our live location and explained the urgency but the ambulance personnel kept asking us to identify landmarks. If help had reached earlier, some people might have received medical attention sooner,” Mr. Varun said.
According to Mr. Varun, survivors remained at the accident site until around 4.30 a.m., crying out for help, before passers-by began stopping to assist them. He said people travelling both towards Chitradurga and back to Bengaluru helped transport the injured.
Mohammed Sadiq, the cleaner of the luxury bus, was among those injured in the accident and was undergoing treatment at a hospital in Hubballi, his paternal uncle Mohammed Salim told The Hindu.
Mr. Salim said Sadiq was asleep in the front when the container truck rammed into the vehicle’s diesel tank, triggering the fire. He was thrown out through the glass window as flames engulfed the bus and fell onto the road outside. “Sadiq was taken to Hubballi for treatment and is now receiving medical care,” Mr. Salim said.
Among the survivors were four IT professionals and friends- Kiran Pal, Keerthan M., Nanditha G.B. and Devika H.- who had planned a trip to Gokarna to celebrate Christmas.
According to Kiran Pal’s brother, Kishan Pal, the group had taken leave and planned the trip a month in advance. Three of them are from Bengaluru, while Nanditha is from Chitradurga. All of them were living and working together in Bengaluru and had boarded the bus from Majestic. While two of them- Devika, 22, and Keerthan ,22, sustained minor burns of about 3% and 5% respectively, and were reported to be stable, Nanditha escaped unhurt, and Kiran was later discharged, Mr. Pal said.
Devika and Keerthan are among the three injured passengers currently undergoing treatment at the Mahabodhi Burns Ward at Victoria Hospital in Bengaluru. Yogishwarappa C. N., professor and head of the Burns Department at the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI), said one patient remains in critical condition.
Manjunath, 24, a Bengaluru resident, sustained about 30% burns ranging from superficial to deep and has been admitted to the Intensive Care Unit. He also suffered smoke inhalation injuries, in addition to burns on his back, lower limbs, and hands. While his condition is presently stable, doctors said it continues to be critical, adding that his young age and absence of pre-existing medical conditions work in his favour, provided complications such as infections or sepsis do not develop.
Another passenger who suffered a nasal injury was treated on an outpatient basis and discharged.
Published – December 25, 2025 09:06 pm IST
