2 friends, both named Ramesh, were travelling on Kurnool bus; one survived, one perished           

In a tragic twist of fate, two namesake friends who had shared a decades-long bond were travelling with their families on the same bus that caught fire, leaving 20 dead in Kurnool district on Friday.

While one family escaped with their lives, the other perished in the tragedy.

Guruaiyah said his brother-in-law G Ramesh, wife Anushka, and their two children died while travelling from Hyderabad to Bengaluru after a short trip.

A family friend and survivor, N Ramesh, said he broke the bus window to escape after the locked rear emergency door trapped passengers, saving his family of three--wife and children--along with a couple of others from the flames.

"The fire erupted around 2.30-3 am. Initially, passengers thought of a tyre burst, but panic spread as flames engulfed the front part, forcing desperate escape attempts," N Ramesh told reporters.

The passengers were not informed by either of the drivers that the bus had hit a bike. "I woke up only after hearing a loud noise," he said.

As it was difficult to break the window, the survivor Ramesh told his wife that it was over and that they would die in the bus. She started crying, but somehow he gathered the strength to try again and successfully shattered the window.

The deceased Ramesh, a native of Udayagiri Assembly constituency in Nellore district, had lived in Bengaluru for 10 years and visited Hyderabad. And on Thursday he went boating at Hussain Sagar with family.

"They (G Ramesh and family) were in seat number L7, and my uncle got a call alerting them about the incident. We went to the hospital first but no one was there and later we came to the spot," Guruaiyah told reporters.

The accident happened due to the negligence of the bus driver, he alleged.

G Ramesh usually travels in state-owned buses, but this time he was with family and thought sleeper-class bus would be better, said the relative.

The majority of the passengers rushed to the back side of the bus, seeing an opening and hoping to escape the fire. This was not possible for most, which is why more bodies were at the back.

Relatives of both friends blamed the driver's negligence after the bus collided with a bike on the national highway.