While four buses were damaged in a fire at Ghansoli depot on Wednesday morning, a second incident occurred later in the evening at MIDC, Andheri
A fire broke out in a bus parked at Ghansoli depot and spread to three nearby diesel buses. PIC/Yuvraj Surle
In two separate incidents, five buses of the Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport (NMMT) were gutted in a single day owing to electrical fires. However, no injuries were reported in either of the incidents.
While four buses were damaged in the first incident that occurred at the Ghansoli bus depot on Wednesday morning, the second incident occurred at MIDC in Mumbai’s Andheri in the evening.
Giving details of the incident, an official said that a JBM-make electric bus owned by NMMT, caught fire at 7.20 am at the Ghansoli NMMT depot, where it was parked for repair in the workshop.
"The fire occurred due to a short circuit in the battery pack of the bus. The technical staff present noticed it and immediately tried to control the blaze with a fire extinguisher. However, as there were four battery packs and all of them were sealed, the battery short-circuited and the fire spread rapidly and extensively," he added.
The fire rapidly spread to three diesel buses parked on the right side for major repairs, the official added.
“The other three buses, too, were severely damaged in the blaze. The fire brigade was immediately called to extinguish the blaze and it was brought under control after immediate efforts from 7.35am to 8.10 am. A case has been registered at Rabale Police Station," he added.
Later, in the evening, another JBM-make NMMT bus caught fire at MIDC in Andheri. The bus operates on route 144 between Airoli and Andheri (East). No injuries were reported in the incident, but the bus was completely damaged.
Following the two incidents, the NMMT, late on Wednesday night, announced recalling all JBM-make buses from active public service for inspection.
"Every bus will be technically examined before sending back into public service," a note stated.
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