MYSURU: A private tourist bus, which was running on the Mysuru-Bengaluru Expressway, caught fire and was gutted completely near Hosa Budhanuru village in Mandya around 2 am on Sunday.
The police said the bus, belonging to Ashoka Travel Agency, was ferrying around 20 passengers from Bengaluru to Kannur in Kerala when the incident took place. As a tyre of the speeding bus burst, the vehicle hit the road divider. The alert driver immediately brought the bus to a halt. As he noticed some smoke in the vehicle, he immediately asked the passengers to deboard with their belongings.
Within minutes of the passengers getting down, the fire engulfed the entire vehicle and was gutted. Local residents, who received information, rushed to the spot and alerted the police and fire service department. Though fire tenders rushed immediately, the bus was completely gutted by the time they reached the spot. The police arranged another bus to help the passengers reach their destination.