Over 30 passengers had a narrow escape after the BEST bus caught fire in the Marol area in Andheri on Monday.

The BEST bus was operating on route number 186 when the fire broke out in the morning at 10:45 am.

“The bus, which had left Agarkar Chowk in Andheri East for Vihar Lake in Powai, had at least 35 passengers, including some students, at the time of the incident. The fire may have been caused by a short circuit. There was sparking inside the dashboard,” driver Mohammad Hussain Shaikh told PTI.

Shaikh (56) told PTI that he asked passengers to alight immediately and used the two fire extinguishers in the vehicle to douse the fire but in vain.

“A policeman who arrived at the spot also used an extinguisher from another vehicle but failed to douse the fire. We got through to the fire brigade after some time as their number was initially busy,” he said.

“The fire brigade arrived in 15 minutes with two fire tenders and doused the blaze but by then the bus had been gutted,” he said.

This is the fifth incident of BEST buses catching fire this year

In February, BEST had taken 400 wet-leased buses off the roads after three fire incidents in quick succession. 

(with inputs from PTI)

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