Bus catches fire in Pune; passengers escape unhurt

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Twenty seven passengers of a bus had a narrow escape after the vehicle caught fire in Maharashtra's Pune district on Wednesday, this comes days after 12 passengers were killed after a private bus hit a trailer truck and caught fire on the Nashik-Aurangabad highway.

Officials told PTI that the incident took place around 6.30 am on Bhimashankar road in Ambegaon tehsil.

The private bus was carrying 27 passengers from a village in Bhiwandi near Mumbai to Bhimashankar, a religious place famous for a temple in Pune district.
"When the bus reached near Shindewadi on Bhimashankar-Ghodegaon road, a driver of another vehicle told the bus driver that smoke was billowing from it," Ghodegaon police station's assistant inspector Jeevan Mane told PTI.

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The driver immediately stopped the bus and all the passengers quickly got down, he said.
"One of the passengers called up the police control room. Efforts were made to douse the blaze but the flames engulfed the vehicle and gutted it. The luggage and bags of passengers were also damaged in the fire," the official said.

No person was injured, he told PTI.

A short-circuit could be the prima facie cause of the fire, he added.

At least 12 passengers were killed and 43 others injured on Saturday when a private bus hit a trailer truck and caught fire at Nandur Naka on the Nashik-Aurangabad highway.

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