Smoke emanates from BEST bus after object grazes battery

The incident occurred in Byculla when the bus, operating on route number 126, was proceeding from Nana Chowk to Jijamata Udyan, said BEST officials

Mumbai: Smoke started emanating from the top of a Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) air-conditioned bus on Tuesday after an unidentified object grazed the battery mounted on its roof. The incident occurred in Byculla when the bus, operating on route number 126, was proceeding from Nana Chowk to Jijamata Udyan, said BEST officials.

The driver moved the bus to the side of the road after smoke started emanating from the top and used the fire extinguisher on board to prevent a fire. (Bhushan Koyande/HT Photo)

“The bus was negotiating a right turn towards Ismail Merchant Chowk when a biker came in front of it suddenly. The driver swerved to the right to avoid an accident when the battery mounted on the roof grazed an object dangling from a horizontal pillar of an under-construction bridge and started emanating black smoke,” said a BEST spokesperson.

The driver immediately moved the bus to the side of the road and used the fire extinguisher on board to douse the fumes and prevent a fire. “A probe is on to ascertain what object hit the battery. Once that is clear, we will approach the respective authorities constructing the Byculla road over bridge,” said the spokesperson.

A ₹287-crore cable-stayed road over bridge is under construction at Byculla, which will complement the adjacent, 100-year plus British-era bridge. The new bridge is 916 meters long and 9.7 meters high while the height of the pylon connecting the cables is 50 meters.

“Once the new bridge is completed, traffic from the existing bridge will be diverted to it. As a part of the transition process, one span of the existing ‘Y’ Bridge will be dismantled and will connect to the new cable-stayed bridge,” said a spokesperson for MahaRail.