It was a close call for passengers of a bus in the city when acid fumes enveloped them. The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) bus was bound to Hassan and the incident occurred when the bus was passing Nelamangala on Monday.
As soon as the fumes spread, there was panic among passengers. The driver halted the bus and passengers rushed out.
The fire and emergency services personnel came to the spot and when they searched the bus they found six plastic cans full of acid. So it was concluded that the source of the fumes were those acid-filled cans. When they tried to look for the passenger who had brought the cans, he was not anywhere in sight. The conductor arranged another bus for the passengers to continue their journey to Hassan. The fire and emergency services personnel cleaned the bus.
The Nelamangala town police seized the cans full of acid. The conductor told the police that a man had boarded the bus from the RMC yard stop with six plastic cans.
According to the conductor, the passenger told him that he was carrying palm oil for a family function, and that he had purchased a ticket to Kunigal.
The passenger had kept the cans inside the bus near his seat. When the bus reached Nelamangala bypass, due to the friction, acrid fumes from the can engulfed the bus leading to chaos.
The Supreme Court in July had lashed out at the Union and the State governments for not doing anything to regulate the sale of acid in the open market . The court had warned that it would impose a ban on sale of acid in the market.
