Thirty passengers of a private air-conditioned bus bound to Bengaluru escaped unhurt after the vehicle caught fire during the early hours of Thursday.
Ambur taluk police said the sleeper bus, which was plying from Chennai, was nearing Keezhmurungai village on the National Highway-48 when the driver noticed that the rear tyre had caught fire and immediately stopped the vehicle. The passengers alighted from the bus and no one was injured. The incident occurred at 3.30 a.m.
The Fire and Rescue Services station of Ambur was informed. A team of six personnel led by Hussain Sheriff, station fire officer, went to the spot. “The caller said that the rear tyre had caught fire due to heat. However, when we went to the spot, the crew members said the fire was due to a leak from the AC,” he said.
The crew members and passengers had tried to douse the flames with buckets of water brought from houses in the locality, he said.
“They called us after the fire could not be controlled. We put out the fire, and found that the two rear tyres, side glass and a few seats were damaged,” he added.
