On the morning of March 12, 1995, passengers had boarded a bus of the J Jayalalitha Transport Company (JJTC) from Broadway in Madras (as Chennai was recognized then). The bus was sure for Bangalore (now Bengaluru). Over an hour into its journey, the bus was continuing nearer to Greenland Resort, a freeway eatery in Sunguvarchathram, about 55 kms from Madras, the place lengthy distance buses would halt for refreshment these days.
Elsewhere, at Okay Podavur Village in neighboring Kancheepuram district, many males, girls and youngsters, boarded a tractor-trailer. They have been en path to Palla Mulachur to attend the betrothal of a younger girl, Kokila.
The individuals on each autos have been unaware that their fates would meet shortly that day at Senthamangalam village close to Sunguvarchathram.
Round midday, a dashing tanker got here on the freeway, which was then a single street with lush agriculture fields on both aspect. The motive force tried to overhaul the tractor-trailer, hit its entrance portion and collided with the oncoming JJTC bus. In a flash all three autos have been engulfed in flames. Inside the subsequent “three to 4 minutes”, the flames consumed at the very least 49 individuals together with girls and youngsters. It took two hours for eight fireplace tenders, from Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur and Madras to place out the blaze.
The sufferer rely was based mostly on the skulls discovered on the spot. “This included 33 within the tractor, 12 within the bus and the 2 within the tanker. The skulls have been discovered contained in the bus, beneath it and within the tractor-trailer. A number of the victims within the bus and within the tanker have been present in sitting posture. One of many bus passengers with a babe in arms was present in the identical place, charred,” described a report in The Hindu,
“It was a heap of skulls and bones, sans flesh within the tractor quickly after the accident…A scorched physique, acknowledged to be that of the conductor was discovered on the footboard (of the bus), maybe indicating his useless try. to flee from the leaping flames,” the report mentioned.
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 close-by paddy discipline advised this newspaper she heard a loud bang and in a trice “flames leapt up as excessive as a coconut tree”. She heard screams however just for just a few seconds and from then on it was solely the crackling sound of the flames.
Flames, ordinarily, do not leap that top. However the tanker from Thane in Maharasthra was carrying a consignment of benzene, an fragrant compound which is very unstable and intensely inflammable. “Mere inhalation of the hydrocarbon, extracted from naphtha, could be deadly. When it kinds a vapor with the encircling open air, the minutest spark — even from friction — can ignite it,” mentioned a report.
By the way, this was the third fireplace accident within the nation that month brought on by autos transporting inflammable chemical substances. Just some days earlier, an inferno had killed over 20 individuals on the Delhi-Haridwar Freeway when a truck carrying concentrated sulfuric acid caught fireplace after a tire burst. Additionally, a tanker carrying LPG from the Cochin Refineries Restricted had overturned and engulfed in flames close to Cochin (now Kochi).
Amongst those that perished on the spot have been 34 villagers on the tractor-trailer together with 12 girls and eight kids. Most youngsters, who would in any other case be taking part in within the village, had hopped on to the automobile hoping for a pleasure trip, simply quarter-hour earlier than the inferno charred them. A 20-year-old youth Vijayakumar from Okay Podavur misplaced his father, mom and sister within the blaze. The crew of the bus and 10 passengers and the tanker’s driver and cleaner have been among the many useless.
Many others who sustained burn accidents have been rushed to the Kancheepuram Authorities Hospital, Kilpauk Medical Faculty Hospital in Madras and the Sirperumbudur Authorities Hospital.
Since many individuals have been charred, initially it was feared the toll might go up past 100. Nevertheless, over the subsequent few days, the toll was put at 54, with a few of these admitted in hospitals succumbing.
There have been some fortunate survivors like Swaminathan, seated within the rear of the bus, who jumped out by smashing the glass pane. 5 occupants of the tractor additionally managed to exit on time. One other man Paranthaman of Athabakkam village was fortunate, in a distinct sense. Minutes earlier than the accident, he had supplied prayers on the native church and sought a raise from the Benzene-laden tanker. The motive force didn’t cease. Later, he boarded a tempo and proceeded solely to seek out the tanker ablaze.
Tailpiece: Two months later Kokila bought married. This enraged a 46-year previous 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 inflicting accidents on his shoulder and face asking “How dare you have a good time your daughter’s marriage ceremony when the village remains to be in mourning?”
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