A week after 45 passengers were charred to death in a bus near Mehbubnagar in Andhra Pradesh, 35 passengers in a bus from Hassan to Bangalore had a miraculous escape on Thursday evening. The KSRTC Vaibhav, manufactured by Tata, was gutted in an accidental fire near Goraguntepalya Signal onTumkur Road, 14 km from the city.
Timely action by driver Yusuf Ali Sharif, who poured water on the fire, and conductor Range Gowda, who helped all 35 passengers get down the bus through the front door saved the day. Passengers said there was no need to use the emergency exits. The bus (KA 13 F 1949) of the Hassan depot left Hassan around 1.30pm, Manje Gowda, a passenger, told TOI.
The driver said he slowed down near Goraguntepalya Junction to let passengers get off when he noticed the sparks in the engine around 4.45pm. “The conductor saw the flames and alerted everyone. By then, six passengers were standing near the door. I quickly steered the bus to the extreme left and asked passengers to quickly get down one by one,” Yusuf.
Range Gowda repeatedly requested passengers to stay calm. “Some passengers tried to take their luggage but I told them to move out. Human safety comes first and we made sure no one wasted time by collecting luggage,” he said.
Read the full report here, Times of India
