Bus gutted in fire in MP's Raisen, 40 passengers escape unhurt

Raisen (MP), Jan 15 (PTI) Forty passengers escaped unhurt after a private bus they were travelling in caught fire in Madhya Pradesh's Raisen district early on Thursday, police said.

The incident occurred near a roadside eatery at Bamhori??under Sultanpur police station limits, located 40 km from the district headquarters, when the passengers were heading to Rewa from Indore.

The blaze started suddenly in the rear wheel of the bus and engulfed the entire vehicle within 20 minutes, Sultanpur Station House Officer (SHO) Santosh Singh said, adding that none of the passengers initially noticed the fire.

The driver of a truck following the bus spotted the flames, overtook the vehicle, forced it to stop on the Jabalpur-Jaipur highway around 2 am, and shouted to alert its driver, he said.

Panic broke out after passengers were warned, and those sleeping on berths were hurriedly woken up, the SHO said.

All passengers managed to get out safely, but the bus and their belongings were completely gutted, he said.

Passengers Santosh Kushwaha and Irfan Khan said several travellers lost valuable items in the fire and questioned how the losses would be compensated.

They claimed that repeated calls to the transport company's office went unanswered for hours.

Another bus of the same company arrived on the route on Thursday morning, after which the stranded passengers were sent to their destination, the SHO said.

Police have registered a case and launched an investigation, he added. PTI COR LAL GK