As many as 44 passengers travelling in a private luxury bus had a narrow escape after the vehicle caught fire on Mumbai-Goa highway in Maharashtra`s Raigad district in the wee hours of Sunday, police said, reported news agency PTI.
The incident occurred near Kashedi tunnel in Poladpur area around 2 am, an official said.
The bus driver`s alertness led to the passengers alighting to safety quickly as he sensed something wrong after one of tyres burst, he said, reported PTI.
The bus, carrying 44 passengers, was on way from Mumbai to Malvan in Sindhudurg district on the highway.
Before the Kashedi tunnel, a tyre burst and it caught fire, following which the bus driver applied emergency brakes and asked all the passengers to get down, the official said, reported PTI.
By the time the passengers alighted, the fire spread to other parts of the bus, he said.
After being alerted, the police and fire brigade rushed the spot and cordoned off the road by stopping traffic on both sides of the highway, reported PTI.
In the meantime, a blast occurred in the bus diesel tank, but the passengers had alighted to a safe location by then and no harm was caused to anybody, the official said, reported PTI.
Fire brigade personnel doused the blaze by 3 am and vehicular movement on both the sides of the highway later resumed, he said.
A case was registered in connection with the incident at Poladpur Police Station and a probe was underway into it, the police added.
Injured driver trapped in auto after collision with trailer in Thane
In another incident, a 55-year-old autorickshaw driver suffered injuries and got trapped in his three-wheeler after it collided with a trailer truck in Thane city in the early hours of Friday, prompting firefighters to rescue him, an official said, reported PTI.
Yasin Tadvi, chief of the Thane Municipal Corporation`s Disaster Management Cell, said that the accident took place near the Shell petrol pump at Pachpakhadi area along the Eastern Express Highway, reported PTI.
“The autorickshaw was plying between Nitin Company Junction and Mulund Checkpoint when it collided with an unidentified trailer,” Tadvi said.
The impact of the collision left the auto driver, identified as Sahebrao Yadav, trapped inside the mangled three-wheeler, he said.
“The control room was informed at 3.44 am about the accident. Our firefighters, one fire engine and a rescue vehicle, were rushed to the spot. The auto driver was extricated in 15 minutes,” he said.
Yadav was shifted to the District Government Hospital, the official said.
The trailer driver fled from the spot with his vehicle, and efforts are being made to track him down, another official said.
(With inputs from PTI)
