About 36 passengers, including children, had a miraculous escape when a private bus in which they were travelling caught fire on the city outskirts in the early hours of Monday.
The bus belonging to Karthikeya Travels was proceeding from Kakinada to Hyderabad when the mishap occurred.
According to the villagers, smoke emanated from the batteries fixed at the rear side of the bus when the bus reached Keesara village in Kanchikacherla mandal in the district around 2.30 a.m. The driver, who noticed the smoke, parked the bus on the roadside, and when he was checking it, the engine caught fire.
The driver asked the passengers to get down from the vehicle, and within a few minutes flames engulfed the bus and it was completely burnt.
The reasons for the mishap are being probed, said the officials.
In another incident, a private bus of Hanuman Travels hit a telephone pole on the National Highway at Kanchikacherla. Five passengers suffered minor injuries in the incident.
The Kanchikacherla police have registered a case.
