VIDEO: Passengers Narrowly Escape As Private Bus Catches Fire On Pune-Bengaluru Highway

A private bus caught fire on the Pune-Bengaluru Highway in the wee hours of Monday. Fortunately, there was no loss of life as all the passengers got out in the nick of time.

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According to the information received, the incident took place at 2am in front of the Swaminarayan Temple in Narhe. A passenger noticed smoke coming from the bus, after which the driver immediately pulled the bus aside and got the passengers off. This averted a major disaster.

As soon as information about the incident was received, fire brigade vehicles of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) immediately reached the spot. The fire brigade personnel made tireless efforts to control the fire.

Due to this incident, there was a traffic jam on the highway for some time, but the police intervened in time and restored normal traffic. The exact cause of the fire is not yet clear. Further investigation is underway.

Three workers die of suffocation

Three workers lost their lives due to suffocation while laying optical fibre cables in a drainage chamber in the Nigdi area of Pimpri-Chinchwad on Friday.

According to Bhojraj Misal, Police Inspector of Nigdi police station, the workers had entered the chamber to carry out BSNL's optical cable-laying work when they collapsed inside, allegedly due to a lack of oxygen.

Despite immediate efforts to rescue them, all three were declared dead.

The deceased have been identified as Datta Holare, Lakhan Dhawre and Sahebrao Girsep, all contractual workers.