Twenty-two private buses that were parked inside a Bengaluru garage were burnt in a fire on Monday. Police officials told news agency PTI that the fire broke out when welding work was being carried out on the parts of one of the parked buses in the garage in the Veerabhadra Nagar area. A senior official said, “As per preliminary probe, we suspect that a spark from the welding machine led to the fire. The fire later spread to other buses which were parked at the garage causing heavy damages.”
The fire department said that multiple fire tenders rushed to douse the flames. Fire department officials said that in total, 18 buses were completely burnt and four partially damaged. There were 35 buses that were parked at the garage and out of them, 22 caught fire.
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar while talking to PTI said, “The incident took place when a repair work was going on. By God’s grace, there are no casualties. The fire department and the police will investigate the matter. We will order an inquiry.”
VIDEO | “The incident took place when a repair work was going on. By God’s grace, there are no casualties. The fire department and the police will investigate the matter. We will order an inquiry,” says Karnataka Deputy CM @DKShivakumar after 22 buses were gutted in fire at a… pic.twitter.com/xu5GtH2xbG
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) October 30, 2023
Karnataka Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy also visited the incident site on Monday. He told news agency ANI, “According to the fire services personnel, there were no sufficient cylinders (fire extinguishers). There should be two gates, one in and one out. Here, there is only one gate.”
According to PTI, the garage was housed in an open space due to which people were able to move out quickly as soon as they noticed the fire.
As per police officials, no one was hurt in the flames and a detailed investigation has been launched to ascertain the exact cause of the fire.