Eyewitnesses said the rear windows on a flaming bus in India were locked, trapping the people inside.  The bus caught fire while traveling from Bangalore to Hyderabad on a major highway, killing 45 people on board.

Most of the passengers were asleep on the luxury Volvo bus when it hit the edge of the culvert in the middle of the road while attempting to pass a car, and the railing pierced the fuel tank, setting it ablaze. 

“The diesel tank burst and flames erupted. Before the passengers could realize what had happened, the blaze engulfed the entire bus,” said residents of Kothakota village where it happened.

The driver and the bus cleaner tried to unlock the windows, but the flames had spread too quickly.  Those two and five others were able to escape through the front door.  The rest perished in the flames.  The nearest fire tender came from 20 kilometers away.

The privately owned and operated bus was running between two of India's leading high tech hubs.  It’s believed that at least some of the dead may have been software engineers working for major IT companies.