Mumbai, Aug 15 (PTI) A CNG-run bus operated by the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST), Mumbai’s public transport service and electricity provider, caught fire in Vikhroli area here on Friday afternoon, officials said.
No passengers were injured in the incident.
This is the second such incident involving a bus in the BEST fleet in a month.
The CNG bus hired on lease from operator Maruti Travel was heading to Kannamwar Nagar from Vikhroli station when the driver’s cabin got filled with smoke due to burning of wires around 3.25 pm, the BEST said in a statement.
The driver and conductor of the bus doused the fire using an extinguisher kept in the vehicle. The city fire brigade unit was also alerted, but the blaze was extinguished before the arrival of its team, it said.
No passengers were injured in the fire as the crew had safely rescued them before the arrival of the fire brigade at the spot, it added.
Although the cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained, BEST officials suspect that a short circuit could have triggered it.
Exactly a month ago on July 15, an electric double-decker bus packed with passengers caught fire in Fort area of south Mumbai. All passengers were safely evacuated.
The BEST undertaking has a fleet of around 2,700 buses, of which less than 500 buses are of its own. Majority buses including around 1000 electric buses have been hired on lease from different operators.
Around 25 lakh passengers would travel on BEST buses everyday. But the number dropped drastically after the public transport body increased the minimum fare by 100 per cent last May. PTI KK NP
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