Close shave for 42 passengers

A luxury bus of Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation went up in flames near Tirumazhisai traffic signal on the Chennai-Bengaluru National Highway at 8 am on Saturday 

All the 42 passengers, who were on their way to Chennai in the bus, had a narrow escape, when the driver, alerted by two-wheeler riders of smoke in the engine, halted the vehicle sensing danger, Within minutes of the evacuation of the passengers, the fire spread to the entire bus. 

As the fire tenders from Avadi and Ambattur couldn’t reach the spot immediately, the bus was completely gutted. 

Faulty wiring was suspected to have caused the fire Though it took just 10 minutes to put out the fire, traffic piled up on either side of the highway during the morning peak hour