Students escape school bus fire

Manama : More than 35 students were rescued from a burning bus as the vehicle carrying the Indian School Bahrain (ISB) students caught fire in the Educational Area in Isa Town yesterday. 

The incident happened outside the school gate at around 6.40am when the buses were dropping children in the school. The timely intervention of the bus driver and the Indian school teachers on duty in evacuating the children safely from the school bus averted a  big tragedy. Preliminary reports suggested that electrical fault led to the fire. 

However, all the students were evacuated from the bus by the school staff on duty as soon as the smoke was detected. 

On seeing smoke emitting from the bus a teacher alerted the driver who opened the door and stopped the vehicle. 

Saikat Sarkar and Balaji Jacob, the school teachers on transport duty,  entered the bus and helped the children to exit from the bus. The police were informed and fire engines rushed to the spot. Preliminary investigation is in process and the detailed investigation will be completed soon.

“All the children are safe and the school is committed to the safety and security of every child in the campus. It is unfortunate that such an incident has happened. All emergency measures were in place which helped in the evacuation process,” assured ISB  Chairman   Prince S Natarajan. The Ministry of Education officials also visited the site and took stock of the situation. More than 80 percent of the bus was destroyed in the fire.