MAPUSA: Employees of a private firm travelling in the company bus had a narrow escape when the vehicle caught fire and its occupants had to be evacuated to safety.
The intensity of the fire was such that the entire bus was engulfed in flames and completely damaged, besides damaging another motorcycle. Sources said the incident took place on Wednesday evening at around 5.30pm. The mini-bus was proceeding from Mapusa to Bicholim with 20-22 employees, when the fire broke out.
Bus driver, Uday Dhaude, noticed smoke in the cabin and on checking, saw the fire. He immediately stopped the bus and poured water in an attempt to douse the fire. Dhaude asked all the passengers to alight from the bus. In the meanwhile, Baburao Salkar, a resident of Bicholim, who was returning home after work on his motorcycle, had also noticed the fire. He parked his bike ahead of the bus and rushed to the spot. In the chaos of dousing the fire in the cabin, the bus, started to move ahead for around 15 metres and rammed into Salkar's bike.
Mapusa fire station was informed about the incident and a team rushed to the spot and tried to control the fire. Sources said that despite best efforts by firefighters, the bus and the bike were fully gutted in the fire. The fire station team has estimated a loss of around Rs 3.5 lakh for the bus and Rs 50,000 for the bike. A short circuit is suspected to be its cause.
