Pune: Narrow escape for 36 passengers on expressway as pvt bus catches fire

#VIDEO | A private luxury bus catches fire on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway near Vadgaon Maval on Saturday pic.twitter.com/GXvtST92H4

— The Indian Express (@IndianExpress) April 27, 2024

The driver Mahamunkar, who hails from Satara said, “Around 4 am, while we were at Lonavala, I detected the odor of rubber heating up. I suspected it might be due to excessive friction on the tire discs. Therefore we took a brief halt and I conducted a thorough check and found everything was okay. But when we were near Ozarde bridge, I could see smoke coming out of the rear tyre on the right hand side. I made a decision to stop the bus and evacuate all the passengers. I stopped the bus on the side of the road. I asked the passengers to cooperate and asked them to evacuate. Meanwhile, I opened the luggage compartment and with the help of some passengers took out all the bags. We informed the police and the fire brigade. By the time the police and the fire brigade came after a few minutes, the inside of the bus was filled with smoke and soon the fire spread to the other parts.”

Assistant Commissioner of Police Devidad Gheware said, “Primare probe suggests that overheating of tyre discs led to the fire. Expressway emergency response team, fire brigade and a team of police personnel deployed for election checks nearby, rushed to the spot and brought the fire under control. The timely response by the driver helped avert a serious incident and casualties.”

Officials said that by the time the fire was brought under control, its entire structure of the bus had been damaged. Some time later, Vaibhav Travels arranged for another bus in which the passengers continued their journey to Pune and Kolhapur.