A major tragedy was averted late Tuesday night by an alert motorist on national highway 5. About 35 passengers aboard a Hyderabad-bound bus had a close shave after the engine of the bus they were travelling caught fire.
The hi-tech bus, belonging to Parveen Travels based out of Chennai, was on its way to Hyderabad from Chennai. It was well into the midnight, the bus was travelling in Chagolla district, when fire broke out.
It could have been a worst road accident but for alert motorist Avinash Devi Chandra
Avinash Devi Chandra was driving his car on the other side of the road, when he noticed fire at the back of the bus and responded to the situation by immediately stopping the bus.
The driver then alerted everyone in the bus and managed to safely evacuated them with no injury. However, they were not able to save the luggage of the passengers.
The passengers complained that the fire engine services did not properly respond to the situation as they took a long time to reach the spot. The cause of the fire is still not clear.
The gold ornaments worth Rs 10 lakh belonging to a family was gutted in the bus fire. Others lost their cloths and valuables including laptops. Four Chennai based students, who were travelling to Hyderabad for some training, lost their academic certificates to the fire.