Chitradurga: In a horrific accident, at least 6 people were charred to death while several others sustained injuries when a heavy container truck rammed into a private bus after jumping the road divider on the National Highway (NH-48) at Gorlathu Cross near Javagondanahalli in Hiriyur taluk of Chitradurga district in the wee hours of today.

The 32-seat Non-AC sleeper bus, said to belong to SeaBird Travels, was heading to Gokarna in Uttara Kannada district after departing from Bengaluru last night, while the truck was coming to Bengaluru, when the ghastly mishap occurred.

The truck, which was said to be over-speeding, hit the road divider, jumped over it and crashed into the oncoming bus that was moving in the opposite direction on the Highway.

The impact of the collision was so severe that it instantly triggered a fire, resulting in the complete charring of the bus and the truck.

It is said, there were 29 passengers in the bus including the driver and the cleaner. Several passengers saved their lives by jumping off the bus as soon as flames erupted. All the injured were rushed to nearby hospitals. While the bus driver and cleaner escaped with injuries, the driver of the truck died on the spot, it is learnt.

IGP (Eastern Range) B.R. Ravikanthegowda and other Police personnel rushed to the spot upon learning about the incident.

PM condoles: Prime Minister Modi condoled the loss of lives in the ghastly accident and announced an ex-gratia of Rs.2 lakh to the next of the kin of the dead.

Today’s accident comes just two months after 20 people were killed in a ghastly bus fire accident in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh when a private sleeper bus travelling from Hyderabad to Bengaluru went ablaze within moments  after hitting a motorcycle on Hyderabad-Bengaluru Highway on Oct. 24.