15 passengers injured as bus catches fire after explosion

Jalandhar, Apr 28 (UNI) About 15 passengers were injured when the bus in they were travelling in caught fire after an explosion at the Jalandhar city bus stand here this afternoon.

According to the police, a Nangal Depot bus, which came from Amritsar and was leaving the bus stand for Nangal with about 50 passengers on board around 1610 hours, caught fire with a loud bang.

Most of the passengers managed to alight from the bus.

However, 15 passengers were rushed to the hospital with 40 to 60 per cent burn injuries, hospital sources said.

Senior Superintendent of Police Ishwar Singh said prima facie it appeared to be a case of sudden fire and not that of a bomb blast.

However, ''we are not ruling out any possibility and the actual reasonse of the fire are being ascertained and the police will also seek the opinion of explosive experts from the Army'' the SSP added.

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