HAVERI: Many survivors of the Volvo bus mishap couldn't stop thanking 23-year-old Pune-based techie Prashanth Pandey who gave them a new lease of life by breaking open a window pane with his head to help them escape the burning bus.

Prashanth, an employee of an MNC in Pune, had come to Bangalore on personal work and boarded the bus to go back home.

Soon after the bus caught fire as it hit a road median, Prashanth tried to break open the window, but it wasn't easy. "I woke up to the loud noise and soon realised the bus was on fire. I tried to break open the windowpane with my hands but just couldn't do it. Then I decided to use my head. It worked and I jumped out. Many passengers followed me and others inside also started smashing the windows," said Prashanth, who underwent treatment for head injury at a local hospital. "I'm happy I was able to save some lives," he said.

Manoj Kumar Rana, a software engineer who stays in Marathahalli, Bangalore and survived the blaze, was all praise for Prashanth's presence of mind. "I saw him banging his head against the windowpane and breaking it. Thanks to him, at least ten passengers were saved," said Manoj, who was travelling to Mumbai to meet his parents and elder brother.

Dilip Kumar Shinde, 58, and his wife Shobhalakshmi, 52, too were grateful to the techie. "I tried to break the window but it was tough. This young man broke the window and helped passengers escape. All this happened within a few seconds. I covered my wife with a blanket and let her down through the same window," he said.