Pramesh S Jain & Dr.Thomas (Special Correspondent)
A
s many as At least 18 buses belonging to various private bus companies were completely gutted in a massive fire that broke out in a bus workshop in Veerabhadra Nagar in South Bengaluru on Monday.
Luckily no one was injured in mishap.According to the police,The fire was reported from SV Coach Works,a bus body building workshop,where scores of buses were parked.
The vicinity where the fire broke out was punctuated by blasts of diesel tanks of vehicles.
The fire broke out The fire was reported from SV Coach Works,a bus body building workshop situated at Veerabhadra Nagar at around 11 am where over 20 private buses were parked .
The fire reportedly started from a welding machine and spread to the fire due to to inflamable material.The workers tried to douse the fire and remove the other parked buses but as the fire spread rapidly they abandoned the area and rushed out to safety.
There were around 20 workers who ran to safety before alerting the fire control room.Seven fire tenders along with 80 to 100 fire and emergency service personnel rushed to the spot and took over three hours to contain the fire before it spread to the adjacent area .
Panic gripped among the residents as thick smoke engulfed the area followed by burst of tyres sound.As a precautionary measures the fire and emergency service personnel cardoned the area to prevent curious onlookers who had gathered at the area and recording the videos and clicking pictures.
The South Division police have provided security cover to the area and managing the traffic which was disrupted for sometime.
Though electric short circuit from the machinery used in building coaches suspected to be the trigger point the FSL team is probing further to ascertain the cause of the fire.
The garage even though has vulnerable to such mishap due to the nature of the inflamable material,welding machines,cylinders,painting equipment and waste and cushion material were stored,the garage did not have any fire safety measure,a fire officer, said .
The loss of the gutted items estimated to be several crores.Rahul Kumar Shahpurwad DCP, South Division, said that they are waiting for the owner of the garage and probe is already begun to ascertain the cause of the fire .
This is the third major fire accident in this month followed by Attibele fire crackers godown, and Mudpipe cafe in Koramangala.Many of the commercial establishments ignore fire safety measures, a senior fire officer, said .
