VIJAYAWADA: As many as 70 passengers, including around 53 school and college going students, had a narrow escape as a government run city bus of Governerpet-2 depot caught fire in the middle of the National Highway on Tuesday morning. Two fire tenders reached the spot and doused off the flames.The driver of the bus heard a high pitch gas leakage noise. He got off the vehicle only to notice smoke emitting from the fuel tank.
Immediately, he alerted the passengers to get out of the bus. Within a matter of five minutes, the bus was completely gutted, said an eye witness.At around 8:40 a.m., an APSRTC bus bearing the number AP11Z6409 started from Autonagar to Railway Station. It picked up three passengers from Siddhartha Medical College bus stop and hardly moved around 10 meters.
Speaking to Express, Akula Venkateshwarlu, the bus driver working with RTC for past 10 years said, “The bus hardly moved from the medical college bus stop when I heard an unusual fuel leakage noise. Immediately, I raised the alarm. Within five minutes, the bus was caught up in flames.” He added that a motorist who witnessed the fire called police and fire stations.
The bus conductor, who came in the absence of a regular conductor M. Shirisha said that no sooner did they notice the smoke than they alerted the passengers. The fire erupted within few minutes and charred the bus.
APSRTC Regional Manager P V Rama Rao said that they are inquiring to find the cause of the fire accident. RTC buses usually run on compressed natural gas (CNG). He said, “CNG is a safe fuel and it is a rare incident of a CNG bus being gutted in the fire. We have informed the bus manufacturing company to investigate the reasons which led to the untoward incident. We will take measures so that such incidents do not occur in future.
”This is the second incident of a RTC bus catching fire. It occurred in the same month and on the same road. On August 13, a fire broke out in Guntur depot bus after hitting a lorry. Luckily, in the both incidents, no casualty was reported.
CNG is a safe fuel and it is a rare incident of a CNG bus being gutted in the fire. We have informed the bus manufacturing company to investigate the matter. _P V Rama Rao, APSRTC Regional Manager