The private luxury bus that caught fire on the Chennai-Bengaluru Highway in Vellore.
A total of 26 passengers and crew escaped unhurt after a private luxury bus they were travelling in caught fire at Agaramcheri village, around 5 km from the toll gate at Pallikonda here on Thursday. The police said the Bengaluru-bound bus left CMBT at Koyambedu in Chennai around 10.30 p.m. on Wednesday.
Around 1.30 a.m, as the vehicle was proceeding on the Chennai-Bengaluru Highway near Pallikonda, driver K. Sankar, 40, of Coimbatore, noticed smoke from its bonnet. He immediately parked the vehicle at the extreme end of the road.
All the passengers, including 10 women, were rescued. One of the passengers, who suffered breathlessness due to the thick smoke, was shifted to the Government Taluk Hospital in Gudiyatham for treatment. The bus was completely gutted before a team of firefighters from Gudiyatham town doused the fire. The police removed the charred vehicle from the road to resume traffic movement, which was affected for over an hour, on the stretch.
They said an electrical short circuit could have caused the fire. A probe is under way.
Published – September 19, 2025 12:37 am IST
