[ac 427]

i have been in a volvo bus, twice to goa. its a nice bus, very comfortable but the most scary thing is the way the drivers drive the volvo, its really scary. No doubts on this that these drivers need to be more carfull. . .all the comforts of power steering, good handling, good speeds, make the drivers over confident and they try to pull stunts that are really scary.

[The Wolf]

Indeed this one is a tragic ancident! I extend my condolence to the families of the casualties.


Well, its so sad that despite of all the IT and Industrial boom, India is still so so backward! With the money generated per year, India is capable of doing much more than what we are witnessing, thanks to the most corrupt politicians in the world.
I remmember one off cases when the bus had an emergency exit on the left side of the bus but the bus had toppled and settled on its left side, so whats the use of that blocked emmergency exit???I thought it was rubbish when I heard!!!

NOw I realise why my cousins and all ran to the US and Europe...LOL!

[v1p3r]

Originally Posted by The Wolf

NOw I realise why my cousins and all ran to the US and Europe...LOL!

Maybe if they stayed and voted, and we all voted, then our country would progress.

I'm terribly sorry for all those who suffered losses in this accident.

No offence, Ritesh. BTW I salute you for something you did recently.

[Gordon]

Shouldn't the driver know everything about the bus because I read somewhere that all drivers are Volvo certified.

[Jaggu]

nothing like driver needs to operate a lever unless its the front doors, rest esp the emergency doors are just break it open kinds.. yes when they were introduced they came with a package of driver training also at the price tag also..

they have a cargo opening to the floor which opens the side loading blow, having seen odd driver and cleaners dissapear/sucked on to the floor..

its an accident, what could have been done, well loads.. then again it wouldn have been an accident, hope such unfortunate hapenings dont happen anymore..

[RX135]

Originally Posted by The Wolf

I remmember one off cases when the bus had an emergency exit on the left side of the bus but the bus had toppled and settled on its left side, so whats the use of that blocked emmergency exit???

May be then people inside should come out from regular exit on right side?

[speedsatya]

there is a emergency exit in every volvo B7r...only thing is that people never think about seeing it ....its the 3rd last window ....also there are 2 sunroof type hatches which can be opened from inside ...

but in this case it looks like most of the passengers were too dazed to react to anything ...as the entire bus awas ablaze within 5 mins ...

[Ram]

Most of what I submit here could be conjecture, but is educated guesswork nevertheless.
That being said, IMHO, the factors contributing to the accident were:

The Volvo B7R bus chassis is powered by a 6.7 liter Volvo engine developing 260 bhp and 110 kgm of torque. At around 03:25 on Wednesday, the Patel Tours and Travels, Volvo B7R bus GJ-1 X8998 halted at a Reliance petrol pump some 15 km ahead of Ankleshwar and filled up on diesel. The drivers exchanged places.

The younger replacement driver could quite likely have been doing in excess of 100 km/hr at 03:45 in the morning on an undivided highway where other vehicles can be expected to cross.

The fuel tank of the bus, located behind and below the driver’s seat, burst on impact, unable to sustain the inertia on frontal impact of a full load of diesel fuel traveling at 100 km/hr.

The driver was showered with fuel and set ablaze ostensibly by sparks in the accident.
Maybe the dashboard melted, rendering the compressed-air door-release lever, inoperable.
The blaze spread to the polyurethane foam insulated ceiling and along rge ceiling to the rear.
A few non-sleeping passengers in the front of the bus managed to escape through the giant smashed windscreen.

Within five minutes, the entire bus was on fire, feeding on the polyurethane foam padded insulated ceiling and foam seats. Flames and poisonous smoke fumes from the burning foam in the sealed airconditioned bus quickly killed people.

Many of these Volvo bus bodies are built by a Bangalore-based company called JAE (Azad Group). In the absence of safety regulations in our hapless country, any box can serve as a bus body. It is time that with state-of-the-art vehicles plying at state-of-the-art speeds, we also have state-of-the-art speeds safety norms.

My humble submission is that fuel tanks of high-speed vehicles should be foam-filled and have internal baffles to prevent bursting in a high-speed accident.

[sbasak]

Originally Posted by ram

Many of these Volvo bus bodies are built by a Bangalore-based company called JAE (Azad Group). In the absence of safety regulations in our hapless country, any box can serve as a bus body.

I thought entire bus was built by Volvo! That means Volvo bus = Only Volvo engine & chassis. Otherwise it as good (or bad) as any local made Indian bus. So, now imagine the safety....

[amit]

Read on the Indian Express website that every Volvo bus has 5 emergency exits.

[Jaggu]

hey the rear glass is also is supposed to be one right?? only thing too high a window to jump off for comfort?

but i guess the case here is more to do with flame engulfing the whole bus in a short span of time, case of flamable material used or fumes getting caught inside the enclosed area.. something can be done i guess?

[The Wolf]

Originally Posted by v1p3r

No offence, Ritesh. BTW I salute you for something you did recently.

Didnt quite get you mate!!!!!

[The Wolf]

Originally Posted by RX135

May be then people inside should come out from regular exit on right side?

The other door was jammed due to toppling.

[Stratos]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

hey the rear glass is also is supposed to be one right?? only thing too high a window to jump off for comfort?

Some of the B7Rs dont have rear glass, isnt it??

[Ram]

Could this have been a possible scenario?


Please comment.
Ram