Date:28/01/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/01/28/stories/2005012805180600.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Narrow escape for 65 bus passengers

By Ramesh Susarla

EMMAJIGUDEM (GUNTUR), JAN.27. Sixty-five passengers travelling in an Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation bus had a miraculous escape when naxalites belonging to the Communist Party of India (Maoist) triggered off a landmine, which missed the vehicle by hair's breath between Emmajigudem and Gopalapuram villages today.

Six persons, including the bus driver, received minor injuries under the impact of the explosion and all of them have been sent home after medical treatment at Sattenapalle. Apart from civilians, the bus was carrying 26 men of Greyhounds, the elite anti-naxal wing of the police. "The Sattenapalle-Pulichinta passenger service started at 5.15 a.m. and reached the point at about 7.25 a.m., when there was a sudden loud sound and the bus was thrown five feet into the air," said bus driver N. Sridhar Rao.

The rear tyres of the bus were trapped in a crater created by the landmine, bringing the vehicle to a grinding halt. The naxalites opened fire from the right side of the bus (AP9Z 7853), while it was proceeding towards Gopalapuram. The Greyhounds men asked others in the vehicle not to raise their heads above the window. They then jumped out and returned the fire at the naxalites.When the gunfire stopped, the security personnel chased the extremists into the forest on the slopes of a hillock nearby.