Major tragedy averted! Narrow escape for over 40 passengers in Ranchi as moving bus catches fire

40 passengers escaped with their lives after a bus moving from Ranchi to Chatra in Jharkhand caught fire on Saturday evening, as per PTI.

The incident happened on the Ranchi-Lohardaga highway.

"There were nearly 45 passengers on the bus, which suddenly caught fire near Mandar Bazar," Manoj Karmali, the officer-in-charge of the Mandar police station, told PTI.

"Fortunately, the bus was stopped in time and the passengers were brought out safely. A fire tender arrived shortly, but by then, local shopkeepers had doused the flame. None of the passengers suffered any injury, nor any major damage was caused to goods," he also said.

It is being suspected that the fire on the bus started due to a short circuit near the battery box.

The bus has been kept in the police station compound, while an alternative arrangement was made to take the passengers to their destination.

Kurnool, Jaisalmer bus fires

This news comes in the wake of another bus fire on Friday which grabbed national headlines. A bus going from Hyderabad to Bengaluru erupted in flames in Andhra Pradesh's Kurnool after hitting a bike on the road.

The doors of the bus got locked as it suffered a short circuit, thus preventing passengers from escaping. While some managed to escape by breaking the glasses of the windows, 19 people, including 2 minors, were charred to death.

It was later revealed that the bus was carrying 234 smartphones, the batteries of which burst when the bus was engulfed in flames.

This week, another bus accident in Rajasthan's Jaisalmer has claimed the lives of 25 people. The forensic report later revealed that the accident was caused due to short circuit in the bus' air conditioning.

Increasing bus accidents in India

As per a report by the Times of India, around 130 people in India have lost their lives in bus fires since 2013.

The report reveals that state-run buses in India have gone down from 101,908 in 2022 to 97,165 in 2025.

This has led to more private players coming into the business, thus increasing competition. In order to maintain profits in such a scenario, cost cuttings are needed, which might lead to security and maintenance lapses.