Koraput/Mar, 26:: In a bus fire incident that occurred in Andhra Pradesh on Friday night, two drivers acted like angels and saved the lives of 37 passengers. Due to their presence of mind, although the bus was completely gutted in the fire, not a single passenger was injured. Chitrakonda MLA Mangu Khilla was also travelling on the bus. After the major mishap was averted, the drivers’ efforts have been widely praised.
The private Orange (Nilakantheswar) sleeper bus (No. 7001171-4009) was travelling from Bhubaneswar to Malkangiri when it caught fire near Tarapuram in Andhra Pradesh due to unknown reasons. As soon as the driver noticed the fire, he immediately stopped the bus on the roadside and asked the passengers to get down.
Chitrakonda MLA Mangu Khilla, who was on board, also assisted the drivers in safely evacuating all passengers and helped arrange for them to be sent to Jeypore on another bus.
According to the bus driver, Shukadev Behera:
“I was sleeping while the other driver, Dasharathi Prusti, was driving. Suddenly, there was a loud sound like a tyre burst, which woke me up. I immediately asked the driver to stop the bus. After getting down, we noticed that a wire near the housing close to the rear wheel had caught fire. We tried to extinguish the flames by pouring water. When that failed, we attempted to put out the fire using the gas available in the bus, but the bus air balloon (air suspension component) burst. As a result, it was no longer possible to control the fire. However, we were successful in saving all the passengers.”
Meanwhile, a woman passenger who was sleeping in the sleeper berth had removed her gold ornaments and kept them under her pillow. In the panic after the fire broke out, she rushed out without retrieving them. Later, with the assistance of the Andhra Police who reached the spot, the gold was recovered.
MLA Mangu Khilla said that since the Assembly was closed on Saturday and Sunday, he was travelling to Chitrakonda b
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