“We had studied together in college and were part of a close-knit group. We were all looking forward to great careers after realising the software engineer dream. Till yesterday evening, we were inseparable and now I had to call up their parents to inform them about the tragedy,” said TCS employee Vishal as he broke down.
As soon as news of the accident reached the TCS campus early in the day, some employees rushed to the office of Sree Kaleswari Travels. Company officials were alerted and the tragic news was broken to the parents of the deceased among whom were twin sisters Divya Pynda and Deepthi Pynda, as well as Krishna Sahitya who was her parents’ only child.
Meanwhile, relatives of the deceased employees had a tough time at the travel agent's office getting news of their loved ones as there was no one there to give any information. A visibly shattered Mr Navakush, a software engineer’s uncle who had reached the office, was seen pleading with everyone for confirmation whether his nephew Shekhar’s name was in the dead persons' list. “He was the brightest child in our family. We all had dreams of him becoming a software engineer and were rejoicing only six months back when he got through the company. Now I am not even in a position to give the correct information to his parents. They are already inconsolable,” he said.
Brave woman flags down bus, gets help
The driver of the bus that met with an accident near Naldurg was steering the vehicle after consuming alcohol, according to a doctor who survived the mishap. Jyothi Kumar, 37, said, “After we started, the driver stopped at a dhaba and consumed alcohol.” Her husband and mother, who were accompanying her, died on the spot. She also said a woman named Deepika broke open a window and got out to seek help. Ms Deepika said, “I was sleeping and I got up with an alarm when the accident took place. Somehow I managed to get out of the bus and went towards the road shouting for help. A Hyderabad-bound bus stopped after a long time. With the help of passengers on that bus I went to the police station and got help.”