Delhi: 17 buses gutted at DTC depot, probe ordered

As many as 17 low-floor air conditioned DTC buses were gutted after a fire broke out at south Delhi’s Ambedkar Nagar depot in the wee hours of Thursday.

As many as 17 low-floor air conditioned DTC buses were gutted after a fire broke out at south Delhi’s Ambedkar Nagar depot in the wee hours of Thursday.

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Residents of an unauthorised colony built right next to the depot alleged that the fire broke out after a group of drivers lit a bonfire and burst crackers near the parked buses to celebrate the New Year. Over a dozen houses in the building also suffered damages. A three-member probe panel was constituted to investigate the incident.

Eyewitnesses said the fire started around 3am. “We received a call at 3:20am and 11 fire tenders were sent to the spot. When our team reached the spot, the buses were on fire which had spread to a wide area of the depot. We immediately cleared the area and the fire was controlled in an hour,” a fire department official said. However, the flames could not be completely doused until 5:30am.