DTC bus catches fire, passengers safe

NEW DELHI - A Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) bus caught fire on Aruna Asaf Ali Marg in south Delhi Saturday. No one was, however, injured in the incident, a fire department official said.

“At around 10.25 a.m. today, a DTC bus plying on route number 729 caught fire on the Aruna Asaf Ali Marg in south Delhi. However, thanks to the driver’s presence of mind, no one was injured in the incident,” a fire department official told IANS.

The driver of the bus, Raj Kumar, said: “There was some fault in the engine of the bus which must have led to the fire. I saw the smoke and immediately stopped the bus. Thereafter, the passengers got down.”

The Compressed Natural Gas (CNG)-run DTC bus was on its way to Mori gate.

While this bus was from DTC’s old fleet, between Nov 30 and Dec 21 seven new low-floor DTC buses had caught fire - forcing the corporation to order a comprehensive check of the fleet by the end of this month.