Mumbai: BEST bus catches fire in Andheri, no casualties reported

More than 30 people narrowly avoided being injured when a Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) bus caught fire in Marol, in the Andheri district of Mumbai. The bus, which has been hired by the civic-run transport undertaking from a private contractor, was operating on route number 186 when the blaze broke out at 10:45am under Reliance Flyover there, the official said.

The bus, which had left Agarkar Chowk in Andheri East for Vihar Lake in Powai, had at least 35 passengers, including some students, at the time of the incident. The fire may have been caused by a short circuit. There was sparking inside the dashboard, driver Mohammad Hussain Shaikh told PTI.

Shaikh (56) told PTI that he asked passengers to alight immediately and used the two fire extinguishers in the vehicle to douse the fire but in vain. A policeman who arrived at the spot also used an extinguisher from another vehicle but failed to douse the fire. We got through to the fire brigade after some time as their number was initially busy,he said. The fire brigade arrived in 15 minutes with two fire tenders and doused the blaze but by then the bus had been gutted, he said.