PESHAWAR: Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) service was temporarily suspended for inspection of its fleet after another bus cau­ght fire on Wednes­day.

In the fresh incident, which was fourth of its kind since the launch of the much-delayed bus transit service on Aug 13, there were no casualties.

Rescue 1122 in a statement said that the bus caught fire near Sunday Bazaar in the Hayatabad area of the city. The statement said rescuers put out the fire immediately and there were no casualties.

The rescuers said that the fire started in air conditioning compartment and was extinguished with the use of carbon dioxide. Video footages shared on social media and WhatsApp groups showed plumes of thick smoke coming out of the bus.

TransPeshawar, the government-owned company responsible for operations of the service, initially in a statement termed the fire “mere spark, which was immediately put out”.

However, immediately afterwards the company issued another statement announcing the suspension of the bus service for inspection of its fleet. The company said that all of its fleet would be thoroughly inspected.

The company said that safety of the commuters was its foremost priority and the decision was taken in the best public interest.

The statement said that a team of the bus manufacturers would inspect all vehicles in detail.

The company said that an investigation into two previous incidents of fire was already in progress.

The statement said the bus service would be restored once all buses are given technical clearance by the manufacturers.

The company said that in order to permanently rectify the unfortunate incidents, the manufactures had also advised suspending the operations temporarily to stop such incidents.

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2020