Smoke emanated from the rear side of an air-conditioned Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) bus on its way from Bhatkal to Mangaluru here on Thursday. However, no passenger or crew were injured.
Some local people who noticed the smoke alerted the bus driver near the Airody Junction here at around 12.45 p.m. and he stopped the bus. Local people brought water to the spot to douse the smoke. The mechanics of the KSRTC depot then rushed to the spot to look into the problem.
Deepak Kumar, Divisional Controller, KSRTC, Mangaluru Division, told The Hindu that the starter of the bus got stuck and a fuse got burnt. This generated a small amount of smoke in the rear side.
The passengers were evacuated from the bus and shifted to another bus so that they could continue their journey to Mangaluru. A new starter was sent from Mangaluru to Udupi. The starter of the bus was changed and a new fuse was fixed, Mr. Kumar said.