School bus with LPG cylinder in it burns, heroic rescue saves 17 kids

GHAZIABAD: A school bus with 17 students inside caught

fire

on Tuesday afternoon and was gutted within minutes of a frantic evacuation that saw all its occupants escape from the flaming vehicle unscathed.

The flames, police later said, appeared to have been caused by sparks from the

overheated

engine and spread rapidly because of gas leaking from a small

LPG

cylinder kept on board that had majorly compromised the safety of the bus. At the time of the fire, which started around 2.15pm, there were children between classes 1 and 8 on the bus.

They could be

evacuated

within seconds because of quick thinking by conductor Ajay and teacher Shivani Jain, who rushed the kids out. A vegetable vendor manning his cart nearby and security guards of Ashiana Greens housing society, who were closest to the bus, also rushed to join the evacuation and helped move the children to safety before the flames fully engulfed the bus. Arvind, the driver of the bus, fled.

Aditya (12), a student of Class 8, was in the driver’s cabin when he noticed smoke billowing out of the engine. “The smoke suddenly started filling the bus. My school bag caught fire as I tried to rush outside,” he told TOI.

Aditya’s nine-year-old sister was also in the bus. Ashu Gupta, their mother, said, “I was waiting outside my society when I heard the news. I ran to the spot immediately. My daughter was scared. We are grateful to Shivani ma’am, who was in the bus with the kids, and the conductor along with all the others who helped with the rescue operation.”

Ajay Shukla, another parent, added, “The conductor and the driver used to prepare food inside the bus, which is why a small LPG cylinder and some utensils were kept inside.” Other parents said the bus belonged to a third-party contractor, and wondered if it had passed requisite safety checks.

Robin Thomas, transport in-charge of the school, said, “We have all the safety papers of the buses and they are safe for operations. What happened today was unfortunate. We have hired seven such buses from Sun National Transport Company.”

The school management, in a message to all parents, offered their apology and volunteered to pay for the loss of stationeries and other items belonging to kids that got burnt. They also lauded Shivani’s efforts.

The district administration too said fitness papers of the bus, which had a Delhi registration number, were in order. It has directed the fire department to submit a detailed report into the cause of the blaze. ADM (City) Preeti Jaiswal said, “We have also asked the fire department to check all buses and vans run by private and government schools in Ghaziabad for fitness papers. Meters and wirings of buses will be checked in particular to ensure there is no overheating during summer from use of air conditioners.”