Vellore:
Karthik Raja sits in a chair, quietly weeping. He is waiting to collect his wife's dead body. Mr Raja is the only passenger who has survived the fire that killed 22 people as they were driving through Tamil Nadu's Vellore District last night.
The driver of the bus allegedly lost control when he swerved to avoid hitting two trucks which had collided with each other. The bus toppled over and fell into a ditch ten feet deep. In a matter of seconds, the vehicle burst into flames. The driver also survived. He has been taken into custody.
"We sent fire engines, but it was all over,'' said HM Jayaram, the Deputy Inspector General of the police in this part of the state.
Mr Raja's family shared what he has told them about the accident. ''He says everything was over in a few seconds. He could not save his wife. He tried to pull her out, but others fell on her'' his brother, Suresh, said.
The dead bodies recovered had been so badly charred that they were being identified through a list of passengers available with the tour operator who the bus belonged to.
Those who've visited the site of the accident say that the air-conditioning equipment in the bus short-circuited and caught fire when the bus crashed.