The seniors were trying to make the driver stop the bus because he was driving too fast, said Shravan Kumar, a Third Year student who was sitting in the middle seat of the last row.
"The driver, who was fully drunk, was racing at over 100 kmph dangerously close to the road divider. He was not trying to overtake any vehicle. When the seniors asked him to stop, the driver suddenly swerved the bus to the left. The bus went of the road and fell on its side,"Shravan explained.
People on the road broke the window glasses and rescued the students, said the eyewitness. Four students and the bus driver were killed on the spot in the accident which occurred near Gollapudi on the outskirts of the city in the early hours of Tuesday.
Shravan luckily escaped the accident with a few “lacerations” on his body and forehead.
Shravan thinks the driver was afraid that the students would hand him over to the police along with the cleaner, who was earlier caught stealing the mobile phones of the students. “Actually both of the cleaner and the driver planned it together, but the students told the driver that only the cleaner would be handed over to the police. The driver must have guessed that the truth about him would also come out once the police gets involved and for this reason he was afraid of stopping the bus,” the student said.
“The students, who were killed, are my seniors doing their final year or internship. Rajesh who is said to be in a very serious condition is my junior and Sujith is my batch mate,” Shravan said.
Srijan Reddy suffered an injury near his eye and doctors suspect that there is a facture to his skull. His uncle Kamal Reddy rushed from Kurnool to take him home. From what his nephew told him the bus driver was drunk and he suddenly swerved to the left.
Everyone was thrown out of their seats when the bus hit a huge tree on the edge of the highway. The impact of the hit from bus was so strong that the huge tree got uprooted.
