The recent bus fire in Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh, is yet another harrowing reminder of the dangers lurking in India’s private sleeper bus network. Families were devastated as a packed sleeper coach erupted in flames during an overnight journey from Hyderabad to Bengaluru. The horror of people burning alive in the darkness just before dawn is a tragedy that keeps replaying across the country. Only ten days prior, Rajasthan witnessed a similar catastrophe, with over twenty lives lost in a single incident. Such disasters are not isolated—they form a grim pattern that sends shockwaves of fear among travellers and forces the public to once again demand stricter regulations for sleeper bus safety.
But what keeps fuelling these deadly accidents? The underlying causes are rooted in three main areas: flawed bus design, driver exhaustion, and the perilously short window for rescue during emergencies.
Design Flaws: The Bottleneck Problem
Sleeper buses are marketed as a comfortable way to travel long distances overnight, promising passengers a restful journey. However, the very features designed for comfort can turn into lethal traps when emergencies strike. The so-called “hi-tech” sleeper coaches typically feature extremely narrow corridors, often so tight that only a single person can move through at once. Most buses follow a 2x1 berth layout, squeezing in 30 to 36 beds, and sometimes even more on multi-axle coaches. Each berth is roughly six feet long and just over two and a half feet wide, giving passengers little room to manoeuvre.
The primary issue emerges in the central aisle. In the event of a fire or accident, panic and confusion reign. Passengers trying to escape are forced to move in a single file, one behind the other, while toxic smoke and flames spread rapidly around them. Experts have repeatedly warned that in these critical moments, the cramped layout becomes a death trap: people get jammed in the bottleneck, unable to exit in time. The design, intended for efficiency and profit, sacrifices essential safety considerations, turning seconds into the difference between life and death.
Height and Rescue: Another Trap
The danger isn’t limited to cramped interiors. Sleeper buses are built high off the ground, often standing eight or nine feet tall. This elevated structure means that if the bus overturns or is engulfed in flames, passengers—especially those in upper berths—face almost insurmountable obstacles to escape. Windows and emergency exits become difficult or impossible to reach in the chaos. For external rescuers, the challenge is equally daunting. They must climb up to shattered windows or force open doors, all while racing against time as smoke and fire threaten the lives trapped inside. The combination of height and poor access slows rescue efforts to a crawl. Frequently, by the time help manages to break into the bus, the odds of finding survivors have already dropped dramatically.
Driver Fatigue: The Human Danger
On top of these design flaws, driver fatigue remains a persistent and deadly problem. Sleeper buses typically run on long-haul routes through the night, requiring drivers to stay alert for hours on end in darkness. Fatigue is not just a possibility—it’s a constant reality. While some companies have installed basic drowsiness detection devices, these systems are often unreliable or ignored in practice. A 2018 survey revealed that a quarter of sleeper bus drivers admitted to driving while feeling sleepy or even dozing off at the wheel. Multiple studies confirm that the highest risk of accidents falls between midnight and six in the morning, a time when the human body is naturally most prone to drowsiness. Every night journey becomes a gamble, with the odds stacked against safety as tired drivers struggle to keep their focus.
Those Two Minutes Are Critical!
When disaster strikes on a sleeper bus, everything hinges on the first two minutes. Most passengers are asleep, cocooned in their small, enclosed berths, unaware of danger until it’s almost too late. Only those who are awake, or who manage to snap to alertness immediately, have a real chance of escape. For those in upper berths, the situation is even more precarious: climbing down in the dark while smoke or fire spreads can be nearly impossible. The corridor quickly fills with people and panic, while blocked or inadequate exits delay evacuation. Fire and toxic smoke can engulf the entire bus within seconds, leaving precious little time for anyone to get out. This is exactly what happened in Kurnool, as chaos and confusion sealed the fate of many inside.
China’s Ban on Sleeper Coaches: A Warning
India is not the only country to grapple with the dangers of sleeper coaches. Western nations initially introduced these buses as a luxury for intercity travel, but repeated disasters have forced some countries to reconsider their use. China’s experience stands as a stark warning. Between 2009 and 2012, thirteen major sleeper bus crashes claimed 252 lives. In response, China took the drastic step of banning new sleeper bus registrations in 2012, acknowledging that the risks far outweighed the benefits. Their decision was rooted in years of tragedy and mounting evidence that the current design and operational standards were simply too dangerous to continue.
What Needs To Change?
There is a growing consensus among transport safety experts, activists, and the public that small, incremental fixes will not be enough. Sleeper buses in India demand a comprehensive overhaul and a commitment to real accountability. First and foremost, every sleeper coach must be equipped with modern, automatic fire detection and sprinkler systems in every passenger compartment. The interior layout needs a complete redesign, with wider and more easily accessible emergency exits on both sides of the bus, making sure that escape is possible even when panic sets in. All interior materials—seats, berths, curtains, and wall linings—must be made from fire-retardant substances to slow the progress of a blaze and give passengers more time to react. Equally important is the training and monitoring of drivers: rigorous standards must be enforced, with strong oversight to ensure that fatigue is addressed and that drivers are truly fit for night journeys. Regulatory agencies must step up, not only by updating rules but by actively enforcing them through surprise inspections, penalties, and clear accountability for violations.
It is no longer enough to wait for the next headline-grabbing tragedy before taking action. The cost of inaction is measured in lives lost and families shattered, and the risks are already well known. Only with decisive, systemic change can sleeper buses become the safe, reliable means of travel they are meant to be, rather than rolling death traps on India’s highways.
Driver Monitoring Technology
It is imperative to enforce advanced Driver State Monitoring (DSM) systems—there can be no room for excuses or half-measures. These cutting-edge systems are designed to detect fatigue, distraction, and other signs of driver impairment before they escalate into deadly consequences. Authorities must step up and rigorously regulate driving hours, with particular attention to nighttime schedules when the risk of accidents soars. Hard limits on driving duration must be established—recommendations are no longer enough. Rest periods should be strictly mandated and absolutely non-negotiable, ensuring that drivers have adequate time to recuperate before getting back behind the wheel. On lengthy interstate journeys, the burden of responsibility should never rest on a single individual’s shoulders. It must become mandatory to assign two drivers for every trip that exceeds a defined distance or time threshold, allowing for regular shifts and minimizing exhaustion. Furthermore, comprehensive and routine medical and fatigue assessments must be required for all long-distance drivers, with no room for exceptions or loopholes.
Travelling In Wee-Hours Is Crucial
Visibility and enforcement are critical components of this strategy. Night-time and early morning hours are especially perilous, as fatigue peaks and the likelihood of serious crashes increases. To counter this, the presence of highway patrols should be significantly increased during these vulnerable hours, providing a visible deterrent and immediate response capability. Enforcement efforts must be concentrated on high-risk road segments—those stretches where accidents keep recurring—deploying both personnel and technology to monitor and intervene as needed. The underlying reality is stark: public safety is at stake, and decisive, immediate action is essential to prevent further tragedy.
However, until authorities confront and correct the fundamental design flaws in sleeper buses and enforce stringent operational standards across the board, the specter of disaster will continue to threaten every commuter, not just in the Telugu states but throughout India. The risks are system-wide and demand a coordinated, nationwide response.
Chronology of Major Sleeper Bus Accidents
The grim truth is that sleeper bus accidents are far from isolated incidents—they form a persistent pattern, driven by inadequate vehicle design and dangerously fatigued drivers. Consider the recent catastrophe on the Hyderabad-Bengaluru route near Kurnool, straddling Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. In that single crash, a sleeper coach erupted in flames, resulting in the deaths of twenty passengers. This tragedy was not an anomaly; just ten days prior, Rajasthan experienced a similar disaster, with more than twenty lives lost. The issue extends beyond India’s borders—China, for instance, responded to a devastating series of crashes between 2009 and 2012, which claimed 252 lives, by banning all new sleeper bus registrations in 2012.
Within the Telugu states, the memory of two especially harrowing incidents still lingers among survivors and families. The 2013 Mahabubnagar fire was a horrific event in which 45 people perished after a bus crashed into a divider and caught fire. The following year saw the Palem tragedy, which took 15 lives in another preventable accident. The pattern is evident elsewhere as well: the 2014 crash in Jalgaon, Maharashtra, resulted in 15 deaths in a fiery collision, while a 2023 accident in Nashik claimed 12 more. Each of these incidents underscores a sobering lesson—these are not freak accidents or isolated misfortunes. They are warnings, clear and repeated signals of systemic failure, and the tragedies continue to mount.
It is evident that urgent reforms are needed, both in vehicle safety design and driver monitoring, to break this deadly cycle. Every repeated accident is a call to action—a demand for accountability and real change. The time for complacency has passed, and the safety of passengers across India depends on bold, comprehensive measures.
