M A I N   N E W S

15 suffer burns as bus goes up in flames in Jalandhar
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, April 28
As many as 15 passengers received serious burn and other injuries when a “powerful explosion” put an Una-bound PRTC bus into flames at the local Inter-State Bus Terminus (ISBT) at about 4 p.m. today.

The cause of fire was yet to be ascertained. Preliminary investigations by the bomb disposal squads of the PAP, the Army and the Jalandhar police, have however, indicated that the fire and “explosion” might not have been caused by a bomb.

The incident took place when the bus, which came from Amritsar, was about to leave the ISBT premises. No sooner did the bus cross the makeshift gate of the premises, a powerful “explosion” rattled it and virtually converted the vehicle in a slow moving fireball.

Things moved so quickly that hardly any of the 15 passengers, including 4 women, who received burn injuries and were admitted to the local Civil Hospital, was able to recollect as to what had happened. Most of them could say that they heard a bang from the rear side of the vehicle, which was completely damaged due to the high-intensity fire. Panic-like situation prevailed at the ISBT where hundreds of passengers were waiting to take buses to reach their respective destinations.

Senior police and administration officials, including Mr Hardip Dhillon, IG, Mr Paramjit Gill, DIG, Mr Ishwar Singh, SSP, and Mr Anurag Verma, DC, reached the spot. Fire tenders struggled for about 45 minutes to douse the flames emanating from the vehicle.

No inflammable item like a gas cylinder has been recovered from the site during the preliminary round of investigations.

Most of the victims suffered burn injuries ranging between 50 to 65 per cent. The victims have been identified as Kishan Chand (Amritsar), Ramesh Kumar (Una), Chamkaur Singh (Adampur doaba), Balram (Himachal Pradesh), Gurnek Singh (Bhulana near Tanda in Hoshiarpur district), Madan Lal (Una) Himanshu Kant (Una), Ram Pal, an ASI, his wife Sukhwinder Kaur, residents of Taggran, Hoshiarpur, Preeti Sharma (Jalandhar), her grandmother Bhagti Devi, Sarup Singh (Hoshiarpur), Natasha (Hoshiarpur), Munish Handa (Mahilpur Wadian, Hoshiarpur) and Surjeet Singh (Gelra village near Bhogpur).

“I was sitting on the rear seat and got stunned when a bomb-like explosion occurred near the place where I was sitting. Fully scared, I jumped out of the moving vehicle. This is how I got my arm fractured,” said Munish Handa.

Another victim Chamkaur Singh said all he could recollect was that there was a big bang near the rear tyres of the bus.

SSP Ishwar Singh, who was supervising the investigation, said prima facie the explosion “do not seem to have been caused by a bomb”. “All agencies are doing their job, but nothing final can be said at this stage,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Sukhvir Singh Badal, general secretary of the SAD, reached here to enquire about the injured passengers. He expressed concern over the “deteriorating” law and order situation in the state.