Tourist bus catches fire on road in Vizianagaram district

It is a known fact that there have been many bus mishaps reported from Andhra Pradesh in the past. Be it the driver’s negligence or a technical fault, such incidents have taken the lives of many causing insecurity among the travellers. With another such incident coming to light on Tuesday, the passengers have demanded that the government must use the vehicles only after passing them through authentic tests and ascertaining them to be completely foolproof. Twenty eight passengers on board managed a narrow escape when the bus they were travelling by caught fire. The vehicle, which was headed to Araku in Visakhapatnam district, was on S Kota-Araku route when the accident broke out.

The passengers detected smoke in the cabin and immediately rushed out of the bus to safeguard their lives.

The semi-luxury tourist bus (AP-16 TH-3879), which was hired by the group of passengers to travel to Araku from Vizianagaram, belonged to Vijay Laxmi Travels.

Watch the video here:

It has been reported that engine had turned off immediately after reaching Kiltampalem in S Kota Mandal of Vizianagaram district. The engine yielded no results despite the driver’s multiples attempts to reignite it. Meanwhile, passengers had noticed smoke emerging from the air condition units, when they alerted the driver and immediately deboarded the bus. The bus caught flames in a matter of few minutes after the passengers got down. Luckily, no one on board was reported as injured.

S Kota Police officials were quoted by The New Indian Express as saying, “We suspect that a power short-circuits might have caused the fire. A case has been registered and the investigation is on.”