Tourist bus catches fire in Puri, passengers safe

PURI: An empty tourist bus from Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh that was stationed at the parking lot near Sakhigopal temple, in Satyabadi near Puri caught fire on Monday. Fortunately, at the time of the incident, the pilgrims, around 50, were out in the open while some were inside the temple. 

According to sources, the pilgrims from Gwalior were on way to Puri as a part of Chardham yatra when they stayed put at Sakhigopal to have darshan of Gopinath Deb. Suddenly, some of them noticed flames from the back side of the bus and raised an alarm. By the time fire tender unit reached the spot, the entire bus was in flames. It took the fire personnel half an hour to bring the flames in control.  Though there was no  human casualty, most of their belongings were reduced to ashes. Initially  locals helped the pilgrims with food and clothes.  Later, Satyabadi MLA Umakant Samantrai, block and temple administrations assured all help to the stranded pilgrims.  

“I have sent them to the Panthashala located alongside the Puri-Bhubaneswar national highway,  provided them with mattress, blankets, drinking water besides food. I will bear the cost of sending them back to their homes on Tuesday,” Samantrai said.

It is suspected that fire erupted due to a short circuit in the battery kept on the rear of the bus.