Passengers in a BMTC bus escaped unhurt after the vehicle caught fire on National Highway-4 near the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC) on Monday morning.
The alert driver helped passengers out of the bus before it caught fire, which was suspected to have been triggered by an electrical short circuit.
The bus carried 12 passengers and was heading towards the city from Madanayakanahalli when the driver noticed fire in the engine at 8.30 am near BIEC. He jumped out of the vehicle and asked the passengers to leave the vehicle quickly. He called out to the passersby and toll plaza workers for help. The blaze was doused with a fire extinguisher before it engulfed the vehicle.
The police said a water tank passing by was used to put out the fire. The incident caused a traffic jam in the area for a while. The Madanayakanahalli police have registered a case.