THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: I was travelling from Kozhikode to Bengaluru in an AC Sleeper bus along with my dad to vacate my hostel. The bus started at 9 pm. While I was sleeping, I noticed the smell of smoke from the AC vent, but I chose to ignore it and dozed off again. After a few minutes, the bus was completely on fire. It happened on an isolated highway near Srirangapatna.
The worst part was that there were many kids too. They were rescued through the emergency window. We got out through the rear as the front portion was burning. My dad’s leg was injured. Luckily, all the passengers were rescued. As soon as we got down my dad asked them to open the luggage area and there were fire extinguishers inside which could have been used before things got out of hand.
Later on, when we learned from a passenger that he also got the smell from the AC vent and went to inquire about the same to the staff, he found them clueless as to what has to be done with the engine completely on fire. They could have informed the passengers to get down when they saw the engine was already on fire. The bus exploded soon after.
They also didn’t arrange any alternative transportation. We had to take a lorry to go to the main bus stand and my dad and I was scared because we didn’t know the place, people or the language. Anything could have happened to us there. Luckily, the local people were helpful. We even complained about this at the Kallada office in Bengaluru and Kozhikode. But they didn’t take any kind of responsibility or action regarding this incident. Krishna Ajith, a student in a college in Bengaluru