Jaisalmer: At least 12 passengers were feared killed and several others injured after an air-conditioned sleeper bus caught fire on the Jaisalmer-Jodhpur Highway in Rajasthan on Tuesday afternoon.
The incident occurred around 3.30 pm. Rescuers managed to pull out 16 passengers, including four women and two children from the burning vehicle and rush them to a hospital in Jaisalmer. They were referred to a hospital in Jodhpur from there.
According to doctors, all the patients had over 70% burns and there is little possibility of them surviving. Fire department officials claimed that 10-12 people were already dead by the time they reached hospital.
“Rescue efforts were hampered as the whole bus was engulfed in flames. The metal body was too hot to touch even after the fire department attempted to cool it down with water. There was very little that could be done by the time rescuers managed to get in and pull out the trapped passengers,” an official said.
Prima facie, the fire is suspected to have started due to an electrical short-circuit. Sparks may have reached the bus’ fuel tank which burst, resulting in the disaster.
Experts have warned transport operators against fitting air-conditioning units on old vehicles that did not have one originally. Such attempts to convert a normal bus into an AC sleeper coach can have disastrous results, they say.
An inquiry is underway and efforts are on to identify the dead and injured.
