10 BEST buses gutted in fire at Anik depot

While no one was injured in the incident, the fire brigade deployed four fire engines, five jumbo tankers, an advanced water tender and a quick response vehicle to tackle the blaze

Mumbai: At least 10 buses of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) Undertaking were gutted in a fire at the Anik bus depot on Monday evening. A majority of the gutted buses were a month or two old and had been inducted into the fleet by a wet lease operator recently, officials said.

Though the reasons and chain of events leading to the incident are under probe, sources in the BEST said that the fire may have been sparked by a half-burnt cigarette butt (Raju Shinde/HT Photo)

Though the reasons and chain of events leading to the incident are under probe, sources in the BEST said that the fire may have been sparked by a half-burnt cigarette butt, thrown by people who may have been smoking inside the depot.

“When we reached the spot, we found empty cartons, a stack of papers and some other material lying around the buses which were on fire. Chances of external factors leading to this fire cannot be ruled out, though we will investigate the matter. We are in touch with the wet lease operator as well,” said a BEST official.

The fire erupted around 5.45pm, after which the BEST control room was informed, while the fire brigade was informed at 5.54pm.

Officials said that more than 40 buses were parked inside the depot at the time.

“Once the drivers and staff spotted the fire, they rushed to the office at a distance of 50 meters to fetch the bus keys. They managed to find the keys of most buses and drove them away to safety, but the keys of these 10 buses could not be found,” an official said.

BEST officials said that since many of the buses parked at the depot were new and still awaiting permissions from the regional transport office (RTO), the bus keys were kept at the office of the wet lease operator, Daga Group.

“The buses were parked barely 1.5-2 feet apart. Once the first vehicle caught fire, it spread rapidly, due to the freshly applied paint, plywood flooring, seats and cushion on the buses,” said another BEST official.

While no one was injured in the incident, the fire brigade deployed four fire engines, five jumbo tankers, an advanced water tender and a quick response vehicle to tackle the blaze. An ambulance was also stationed at the site as a precautionary measure, and the fire was doused at around 7.15pm.

The incident came amid growing concerns over the safety and maintenance of BEST’s bus fleet, particularly its large wet-lease fleet. The BEST operates 2,856 buses of which only 249 buses are owned by the undertaking.