Bengaluru: More than 50 students of a private school had a narrow escape when the BMTC bus that they had hired caught fire and was completely gutted on Bengaluru-Mysuru Highway on Saturday morning.
Nearly 300 students of BEL High School in Jalahalli were travelling in six buses to Talakadu in T Narasipur taluk on a school trip when one of the buses caught fire. The incident took place at Mudigere in Channapatna Rural under M.K. Doddi police limits around 7.45 am.
School authorities had hired six buses for a school trip to Talakadu and Mysuru on Saturday. One of the six buses, without any specific reason, caught fire on the busy highway near Mudigere.
The driver, Sudharshan, who noticed smoke coming out of the engine, immediately pulled over to the side of the road and alerted those on board. The driver's timely response saved the lives of the students and teachers.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the fire broke out in the engine due to some technical glitch, the police said. Passersby informed the Fire and Emergency services. But by the time they reached the spot, the bus was completely gutted, eyewitnesses said.
Traffic was thrown out of gear for more than an hour and traffic pileup stretched for about 5 km. The students got into the other five buses and continued their journey towards Mysuru, the police said.
“In all, 298 students were going on the trip and they were supposed to go to Talakadu. Because of the accident, they traveled only till Mysuru and reached the school in Bengaluru around 7.30 pm on Saturday,” said a representative of BEL School.
“Our teachers smelled diesel and asked the driver to stop the bus and took us far away. After a while the bus caught fire,” one of the students said.
Shivanna, a teacher, said, “When heavy smoke started coming from the engine, the driver raised an alarm and we asked the students to get down from the bus immediately. Four teachers on the bus alerted the fire department after getting all the students out. There was panic and some students, while rushing out of the bus, sustained minor injuries. The situation soon returned to normal.”
Channapatna Rural police are investigating the case. “We have written to the RTO officials to ascertain the exact cause of the fire. We have also informed senior officials of BMTC who had rented out the bus to the school,” a senior police officer stated.
BMTC blamed the bus manufacturer, AshoK Leyland. Mr Nagaraj Yadav, chairman, BMTC, said, “The bus was three years old and the fire broke out because of technical glitches, for which the company is responsible. I have sought a report and action will be initiated against the company.”
