Puri, Jan 9 : Pilgrims had a providential escape from a huge fire that engulfed the bus in which they were coming to Puri from Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh.
According to sources about fifty pilgrims who were on pilgrimage of the chardham yatra popularly known as Gangasagar yatra were on their way to Puri dham. They stopped at Sakhigopal to have darshan of Gopinath Deb.
Most of the pilgrims went to the temple while some others were waiting outside the bus parked on the back side of the temple parking place.
Suddenly they noticed flames from the back portion of the bus. By the time the fire tender unit reached the spot, the entire bus was on fire. After half an hour the fire was extinguished.
Though there was no human casualty as all the pilgrims were out of the bus their belongings were reduced to ashes.
The locals helped pilgrims with food and cloth. The Tahasildar is taking steps to help them. It is believed that a short circuit in the battery kept on the rear of the bus might have triggered the fire of the bus.
