School bus catches fire in MP; no casualty

NEW DELHI: A private school bus carrying children caught fire in Madhya Pradesh's Sidhi city on Wednesday morning, a police official said. The children and the bus driver were not injured, the official said, adding the vehicle was damaged. The incident took place at around 9 am when the bus was near the Police Lines ground, sparking panic among the children.

Soon after noticing the fire, the driver immediately stopped the bus and rushed five-seven children who were inside the vehicle out to safety, Kotwali police station in-charge Abhishek Upadhyay said. However, eyewitnesses claimed nearly a dozen children were inside the bus at the time of the incident and all of them safely came out.

A fire tender was rushed to the spot and the blaze was doused, the police official said. The flames engulfed the entire bus and damaged it, he said, adding the cause of the fire was not yet known.