Private school van bursts into flames

A private van, which was being used for transportation of school students, was engulfed in flames on Friday afternoon at the Western Express Highway at Goregaon. Fortunately, there were no students in the van when it caught fire, and no one was injured, said the police.

According to the Dindoshi police, the incident took place around 1 pm on Friday when the driver of the van was going to pick up students from schools in Goregaon. While he was on the way, he suddenly realised that smoke was emanating from the bonnet of the van.

"He immediately stopped the van and tried to open the bonnet, when the car caught fire. The locals immediately informed us and the fire brigade was alerted too. The fire was doused by the fire fighters and the van was cleared from the road. There were no casualties," said a police officer from Dindoshi police station.

"We have completed the panchnama and the van caught fire due to a possible short circuit. We have made a diary entry of the incident. There were no school students in the van at the time of incident," said Rajaram Vithoba Vhanmane, senior police inspector of Dindoshi Police Station.

"These private vans are not well maintained and no one keeps check on them. The parents should never send their kids to school in such private vans. It was fortunate that there was no one in the school van," said Arundhati Chavan, President of Parent Teachers Association United Forum.

Anil Garg, Chairman, School Bus Owners Association, said, "These small vans ferry children everyday across the city. They don't follow any government rules and regulations and neither are they stopped by authorities from ferrying school children. Our association has been demanding for years that such school vans, that take children beyond their seating capacity, be stopped. Vans who do not sign a contract with the school as per the school bus policy, should not be allowed to transport students."