A school pick-up van was gutted by fire today at 3p.m. at Udaipur’s Khanjipeer area. Though the van was carrying about 10 students; fortunately no casualties were reported as children were rescued on time.

According to some eye witnesses that UT spoke to, the van, carrying school children caught fire due to a short circuit cause by an alleged gas leakage. However, we have no information about which school’s student the van was carrying OR the driver’s detail.

Sources also said that the driver, on noticing the fire, immediately stopped the van and shepherded the children out of the vehicle. All children including the driver were unhurt while the van (Maruti Suzuki) was completely burnt.

Despite no fire extinguishing vehicle being around, the bystanders through sheer determination and co-ordination managed to extinguish the fire.

Duty officer, Nirbhay Singh of Surajpol Thana said that the car caught fire due to short circuit; the police have detained the van driver for further enquiry.

Covered by: Sayeed Ahmed