On Tuesday, the quick action from one individual saved 70 passengers on a bus that caught fire. Akula Venkateshwarlu’s alertness and presence of mind led to the passengers to leave the CNG bus before it was engulfed by flames in Vijayawada.
The driver suspected that the bus was leaking gas on Tuesday at around 8:40 A.M. The bus stopped at the Siddhartha Medical College stop and once the bus moved a few meters the driver smelt gas.
The conductor M. Sireesha said, “After the driver alerted me, I immediately, asked the passengers to leave the bus. After getting down, within two minutes, the entire bus was engulfed in fire.”
The fire department was alerted and they arrived immediately on the spot to put the fire out.
The driver Akula has been a driving for 10 years for the Road Transport Corporation and said it was a lucky escape.
He was quoted saying, “It was a great save. We were lucky enough to escape the fire accident unhurt, as the bus flared up within a minute or two after we abandoned it.”
P.V. Rama Rao APSRTC Regional Manager addressed the issue and said that the incident is being investigated as it was the first such incident to take place. Samples of the bus were collected to pin point the exact problem.
