Tourist bus catches fire

Solan: A tourist bus (AR-11-2803) on the Manali-Delhi route caught fire at Ria village in Nalagarh early Thursday morning. The driver suddenly noticed that a tyre had caught fire. Though he drove for a while, he stopped the vehicle and woke up the passengers with the help of the staff. He ensured that all 55 passengers alighted well in time before the entire bus caught fire. Fire Officer, Nalagarh, who rushed to the spot with his team, said it took his team about 45 minutes to douse the fire. A loss worth Rs40 lakh was suffered, as the passengers lost their luggage and the bus was totally gutted. The cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained. — TNS