RANCHI: A driver and his helper were charred to death when the bus in which they were sleeping after lighting up diyas inside the vehicle on Diwali night sparked a fire and reduced the bus and its crew to ashes.
The bus was parked at Khadgarha Bus Stand in Ranchi. Diyas and candles were lit inside the bus. The driver, Madan Mahto (50), Ibrahim (25) the helper, were asleep inside when the bus burst into flames.
According to eyewitness accounts, the tragedy took place at around 1 am on Tuesday and the intensity of the fire was so high that the crew didn't get a chance to flee from the leaping tongues of flame.
"The crew of other buses parked in the bus stand, tried to break open the door of the bus, but all in vain,” said a bus driver who was around there.
“Since it was Diwali, both the driver and the cleaner apparently performed puja inside the bus and lit candles and diyas and slept inside it by locking the doors and windows. All of a sudden, the bus caught fire at midnight apparently through one of the diyas or candles, gutting the entire vehicle within minutes", he added.
The officer-in-charge of Lower Bazar Police Station Vikas Aryan suggested that Madan and Ibrahim could have been under the influence of alcohol, due to which they could not sense the initial heat of the fire and by the time they woke up, it was too late/
“The fire brigade was called in. However, it was too late,” said the officer-in-charge.
A bus named Kohinoor, parked adjacent to the ill-fated bus, also caught fire but the driver of that bus acted instantly and drove his bus away from the bus stand to the nearest traffic outpost where police personnel helped douse the fire.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Hemant Soren expressing grief over the incident tweeted, “The death of the driver and the helper due to fire in the bus at Khadgarha bus stand in Ranchi is very painful. May God give peace to the departed souls and strength to the bereaved families to bear this difficult time of grief.”