Major tragedy averted as running school bus catches fire in Alappuzha

ALAPPUZHA: A school bus caught fire at Ala in Chengannur Friday morning at 8.45 am. Seeing smoke emanating from the front portion of the bus, the children got out immediately and a major tragedy was averted. The bus has been completely burnt.

The bus belonged to Mannar Sree Bhuvaneswari English Medium School. The accident happened near Ala Government High School on the Ala-Kodukulanji Road. All 17 children on the bus are safe.

A similar incident had happened in Tamil Nadu earlier. A bus of Bharti Dasan School in Arakkonam in Tamil Nadu caught fire. The students had a narrow escape then. The accident happened near Senthamangalam railway crossing. The police then informed that short circuit could be the cause of the accident.

A motorist seeing smoke from the vehicle informed the bus driver. The driver immediately stopped the bus and got the students out, thus averting a major accident. After being informed by them, the fire force and the police reached the spot, but the vehicle was partially gutted in the fire. The fire of the vehicle was completely extinguished around 7.30 and transportation was resumed. The police informed that a detailed investigation is going on in the incident.