Lucky escape for BEST passenger as steel plate on bus floor comes off in Mumbai

MUMBAI: A bus passenger had a miraculous escape as he stepped into the BEST bus at Marve and noticed that the steel plate on the floor of the vehicle had come out.
"The plate was loose and would have sunk, taking me down along with it," said the passenger, Anthony Gracias, adding that it was presence of mind that he stepped aside in time. "The plate came off as I lifted it," he recalled.
The passenger has registered an online complaint with the BEST authorities with a clip of the steel plate coming off. The clip went viral later on Thursday evening. A BEST official said that the complaint is being looked into and that buses will be properly checked before being deployed in the Marve area of Malad.
Activist Godfrey Pimenta said that only old and dilapidated red buses are being operated in the Marve area. He said these vehicles should be replaced with AC buses like in other parts of Malad.