Fire breaks out in private school bus near Chengalpattu

CHENNAI: A private school bus near Chengalpattu caught fire while returning to the school after dropping off students on Thursday.

The private school, located in the Palavelli area, Chengalpattu has over 500 students enrolled.

On Thursday evening after the usual school hours, students boarded the bus to head home.

After safely dropping off more than 25 children, the bus was on its way back to the school when the incident happened.

Dakshinamoorthy, 42-year-old bus driver from the Ozhalur area, noticed thick black smoke being emitted from the front of the bus and flames engulfed the bus shortly.

Realising the danger, Dakshinamoorthy immediately pulled over to the side of the road, jumped out of the bus. The fire quickly spread, consuming the entire vehicle, reports added.

As a result, traffic on the Chennai-Trichy National Highway was halted in various spots due to the fire.

Following this, firefighters from Chengalpattu arrived promptly and managed to bring the blaze under control, but by then, the bus had already been completely destroyed.

Fortunately, no students were on the bus at the time, preventing a potential disaster.

Authorities noted that had the fire occurred while students were still aboard, the outcome could have been tragic.

Chengalpattu Taluk Police are currently investigating the incident.