A tourist bus from Madhya Pradesh on chaar dhaam yatra was completely gutted in a fire mishap in Puri district on Monday. The bus was parked on the backside of Sakhi Gopal temple under Satyabadi block when the incident occurred.
As per initial reports, the bus was carrying passengers from Madhya Pradesh on the religious excursion. “We were inside the temple when the bus caught fire,” said an elderly devotee.
Another passenger said, “All our belongings, including mobile phones, clothes, cash and gold ornaments have been completely reduced to ashes.”
Around 40 persons had boarded the bus from Madhya Pradesh and had reached Odisha after completing the religious excursion in Nepal and Chitrakoot.
The driver of the tourist bus said, “I was sleeping while some others were preparing food and eating when the fire broke out. Nobody got any chance or time to respond to the situation. All the important documents of the vehicle have also been gutted in the fire mishap.”
The driver of the bus further stated that it appears that some short-circuit may have caused the fire.
A senior fire official said that “Already the bus was on fire when we reached the spot after getting information. An investigation will be conducted to ascertain the case.”
(Reported By Madhusudan Mishra)