Mohd. Wahed barely slept on the night of November 2. The 32-year-old poultry transporter kept staring at the strings of balloons, candles and platters set out for 100-odd guests in his modest Kishanbagh home in Hyderabad, imagining the moment he would finally hold his 40-day-old daughter for the first time. By dawn, his wait was almost over: his wife Saleha Begum (20), her father Mohd. Khalid (43) and baby Zaheera Fatima were already on their way from her parents’ house in Tandur, roughly 120 kilometres away. The house and Wahed were ready for their welcome. But the bus bringing them home never arrived.

Around 7.10 a.m., on the Mirjaguda stretch of National Highway 163, the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TGSRTC) bus collided head-on with a gravel-laden lorry. The impact crush

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