A massive fire suddenly broke out in a double-decker luxury bus running on NH-19 at Ramadevi intersection in Kanpur. There were about 30-40 passengers. Many people survived by jumping from the moving bus, policemen entered the fire and rescued the passengers. Possibility of overloading and short circuit.
Night time on the National Highway is always full of high speed and vehicular movement, but the scene that unfolded near Ramadevi intersection on NH-19 took the breath of every onlooker. Within minutes, a luxury double-decker bus became a ball of blazing fire. Passengers kept screaming, smoke kept spreading and there was chaos on the road.
A sudden fire broke out in a moving bus, passengers screamed in panic
About 30 to 40 passengers were traveling in the double-decker sleeper bus of Palak Travels going from Delhi to Banaras. Most of the people were asleep on their seats. Then smoke was seen rising from the heavy luggage kept in the upper deck. The driver and conductor tried to alert everyone by shouting loudly and tried to move the bus to the side, but within moments the flames engulfed the entire structure.
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Saved his life by jumping from a moving bus
The fire first broke out in the luggage loaded on the roof of the bus, which gave the passengers a few seconds to escape. Many passengers managed to save their lives by jumping from windows and doors. Some people fell and reached the roadside. The passengers who were on the upper berths or could not muster the courage to jump, got trapped inside.
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Policemen entered the fire without any delay and did the rescue.
When the policemen on duty at Ramadevi intersection saw the burning bus, they immediately ran there. Without wasting any time, they entered the bus which was engulfed in fire and pulled out the passengers trapped inside. The police picked up about half a dozen people and took them to a safe place. Local people also showed courage and helped in extinguishing the fire.
Passengers’ allegation: Excessive luggage on the bus, ignored even after warning
Anger was clearly visible among the passengers after the incident. Many alleged that the bus was overloaded with plastic sacks, iron boxes and several heavy bags on the roof. A passenger said that he had warned the driver at 2 in the night that overloading was dangerous, but no one listened.
Another passenger’s important documents including Rs 20,000 in cash were burnt to ashes. A woman going to a Mirzapur wedding said that her jewellery, clothes, laptop and even the idol of Laddu Gopal were burnt.
Cause of fire: Initial investigation found short circuit, but overloading increased the intensity of the fire.
As soon as the information was received, CFO Deepak Sharma sent 6 fire engines to the spot. There was difficulty in extinguishing the fire due to jam on the highway, but after about an hour of effort the flames could be controlled. By then the bus was reduced to ashes. Initial investigation suspected a short circuit, however, the dangerous and excessive load on the bus may have fueled the fire.
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