Twenty seven passengers of a bus had a narrow escape after the vehicle caught fire in Pune on Wednesday, police said. The incident took place around 6.30 am on Bhimashankar road in Ambegaon tehsil, they said.
The private bus was carrying 27 passengers from a village in Bhiwandi near Mumbai to Bhimashankar, a religious place famous for a temple in Pune district.
"When the bus reached near Shindewadi on Bhimashankar-Ghodegaon road, a driver of another vehicle told the bus driver that smoke was billowing from it," Ghodegaon police station's assistant inspector Jeevan Mane said.
The driver immediately stopped the bus and all the passengers quickly got down, he said.
"One of the passengers called up the police control room. Efforts were made to douse the blaze but the flames engulfed the vehicle and gutted it. The luggage and bags of passengers were also damaged in the fire," the official said.
No person was injured, he said. A short-circuit could be the prima facie cause of the fire, he added.
