Balakrishna, driver of a Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) luxury bus that caught fire on Thursday night, says that the first thing he thought of as soon as he noticed smoke was the safety of the 11 passengers aboard the bus.
“First, I smelled something burning. Then, I saw smoke. As soon as I saw it, the safety of passengers was the first thing on my mind and I told everyone to get down,” the TSRTC driver who has been serving as a bus driver since March 2012, said.
It was a quirk of fate. Before beginning the journey to Guntur in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh from the Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station, Mr Balakrishna had washed the windshield of his Rajdhani bus. Around 11.15 p.m., he stopped at Brindavan Hotel near the Outer Ring Road, and given the long journey to Guntur, he wanted to clean the stains left on the windshield by droplets of water that were not wiped off. That is when he caught a whiff of an acrid odour.
“I drove a little further but the bus stalled. I got down and tried to see what happened. That is when I smelled something burning. A few seconds later, I saw smoke coming from the left side of the engine. Immediately, I told passengers to get down and everyone disembarked in a matter of only a few minutes,” he recalled. Then the bus caught fire.
Mr. Balakrishna, whose son is studying is Class VI, then called his wife of 11 years to tell her of what had happened. “She asked me if I’m fine, and inquired about the passengers,” he said, adding that she was relieved when she was told that everyone escaped unhurt.
When contacted, a TSRTC official maintained that all spares and the engine were in good condition. However, the cause of fire would be determined only after the completion of an investigation, he said.
