Thirty-seven passengers, including the Odisha Congress MLA Mangu Khila, narrowly escaped a life-threatening situation early on Saturday morning when their bus erupted in flames following a tyre blowout. The vehicle, which was travelling from Bhubaneswar to Nabarangpur, caught fire near Ramabhadrapuram in Andhra Pradesh after a rear tyre burst while most of those on board were asleep.
Khila, the representative for the Chitrakonda assembly segment in Malkangiri, described the harrowing experience to reporters, noting that the fire took hold while the passengers were in a deep slumber. He attributed this to the prompt presence of mind of the driver, who had brought the bus to a halt and opened the windows before rushing to wake everybody on the bus. It was because of the promptness of the driver and the alertness of the passengers that everybody on the bus was safely evacuated before the fire consumed the entire bus.
Local police confirmed that no injuries were reported despite the severity of the blaze. While fire services and local authorities arrived on the scene to bring the inferno under control, the bus was a total loss. Khila, who had boarded the coach at the Rasulgarh bus stand in Bhubaneswar, expressed his relief that a major tragedy had been averted.
After this incident, another bus was arranged to transport the stranded passengers further towards Malkangiri. At the same time, the police have initiated a thorough investigation to ascertain the actual cause of the fire and check if safety norms were adhered to.
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