Jaisalmer bus fire: Two Chittogarh DTO officers suspended as toll climbs to 21

Jodhpur: A day after 20 people were burnt alive in a bus fire in Jaisalmer and another succumbed at a hospital in Jodhpur on Wednesday, the Rajasthan government suspended two officers of Chittogarh District Transport Office for alleged laxity, officials said.

The Jodhpur-bound private sleeper bus, according to primary investigation, was registered in Chittorgarh on October 1 and had several modifications. It was an AC bus but registered as non-AC, they said.

Chittogarh DTO's Assistant Administrative Officer Chunnilal had conducted inspection of the bus but violations, including modifications against norms, were ignored, according to the officials.

Taking action in the matter, the state government suspended Chunnilal along with Chittorgarh District Transport Officer Surendra Singh Gehlot for laxity, they said.

According to the officials, the primary probe also revealed that the bus had no emergency exit, no window hammers; but a narrow aisle that trapped passengers. Once the wiring caught fire, the automatic door-lock system activated, sealing off escape.

Several bodies were found piled on top of one another inside the bus.

Earlier in the day, Jaisalmer Additional SP Kailash Dan said a jammed door in the bus was the main reason for the high number of casualties. The blaze caused the bus to get locked, preventing passengers from escaping.

"Most of the bodies were found in the aisle of the bus, which shows that people tried to escape but couldn't because the door was stuck," Additional SP Dan told PTI.

Barely 10 minutes after departure from Jaisalmer, the ill-fated bus caught fire on Tuesday, leaving 19 passengers dead and 16 injured. Of the total injured, one succumbed to critical burn injuries on way to the hospital the same night.

An eight-year-old boy who was fighting for his life at Jodhpur's MG Hospital succumbed during treatment early Wednesday, taking the death toll to 21 while four injured remain on ventilator support, a hospital official said.

DNA samples have been collected from the family members of the deceased persons for identification of bodies, they said.

A doctor from the hospital said that after identification, the bodies will be handed over to family members.

Fourteen people are currently undergoing treatment at the Jodhpur hospital, they said. Meanwhile, Rastriya Loktantrik Party national convenor and Nagaur MP Hanuman Beniwal questioned why critically injured victims of a bus fire were not airlifted for treatment, despite the availability of military helicopters.

In a post on X, Beniwal compared the inaction in the Jaisalmer bus tragedy to the swift use of a helicopter a day earlier to transport the ailing wife of state BJP president Madan Rathore from Pali to Jaipur.

"I want to ask Rajasthan CM Bhajanlal Sharma when the state BJP president Madan Rathore's wife fell ill, you could arrange a helicopter to fly her from Pali to Jaipur but when several citizens were critically burnt in a horrific bus fire near Jaisalmer, why were not they airlifted to Jodhpur?" Beniwal asked.

"There were military helicopters/ planes available in Jaisalmer. You could have coordinated with central authorities and defence officials to ensure the victims were flown to Jodhpur or Jaipur for timely treatment," he said.

Beniwal accused the CM and BJP state president Madan Rathore of being insensitive.

Meanwhile, CM Sharma reached Jaisalmer last night by air and visited the accident site and spoke to officials while giving them necessary directions.

He later visited Jodhpur and met the family members of the victim.

The bus caught fire near the Army War Memorial. The Army personnel reached the site quickly and joined the rescue operations. The door had to be pried open, while a few passengers managed to escape by breaking windows. Water from a passing tanker was also used to control the blaze.

Jaisalmer SP Abhishek Shivhare said that 19 charred bodies were recovered from the bus and 16 critically injured were rushed to hospital in Jodhpur.

One passenger died on the way to Jodhpur last night.

"The bodies were sent to Jodhpur for DNA sampling and identification. They will be handed over to families after matching is confirmed by the Forensic Science Laboratory," he said.

Police officials said that the number of people inside the bus at the time of the incident is being verified.

The Jaisalmer Additional SP said the forensics teams have been inspecting the site since last night. "Initial indications suggest a short circuit, though other possibilities like firecrackers in the bus are also being probed." Rescue officials described the bus as a "fireball" that gave passengers little time to react. It was a newly registered vehicle, which was only on its fourth journey. The bus had departed Jaisalmer around 3 pm and was scheduled to pick up more passengers along the route.

A policeman, citing eyewitness accounts, said that a loud blast was heard from the rear of the bus, believed to be from the AC compressor. The resulting blaze was intensified by diesel, AC gas, and fibre-based interiors.

"There was only one door on the bus, which got jammed. Most passengers could not escape. The Army recovered what bodies they could, but some were burnt to ashes beyond recognition," Health Minister Gajendra Singh Khimsar said.

An FIR against the bus owner and the driver was registered in Jaisalmer on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, an intense checking of private buses was carried out by RTO officials in Jaipur in the wake of the Jaisalmer incident.

The RTO squads checked documents of the buses and action was taken on violation of norms, an official said.

While the transport officials were busy conducting checking in Jaipur, smoke emanated from a moving low floor bus on busy Tonk road.

Some passengers noticed the smoke and alerted the driver. By the time the bus was stopped, there was heavy smoke in the bus. However, the situation was brought under control.

The police said that there was minor sparking in the bus which caused smoking.