Team Goemkarponn
AGONDA/CANACONA: A luxury tourist bus that had just transported 40 pilgrims bound for Partagal Math went up in flames under mysterious circumstances late Saturday night at Agonda.
The nine-month-old bus (GA-08 Z-0144), which had arrived from Mopa Airport, had dropped the pilgrims at a beachfront hotel. The group was scheduled to be picked up early Sunday morning for darshan at Partagali Math, currently hosting 11-day celebrations marking the Math’s 550th year, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently unveiled Asia’s tallest 77-ft bronze statue of Prabhu Rama.
With the next pickup scheduled for 5:15 am, the owner-driver chose to stay overnight in the village and parked the vehicle near the SAG Grounds. After stepping out for dinner, he returned around 9.40 pm to find smoke emerging from the bus.
He immediately attempted to douse the flames using the onboard fire extinguisher, but the fire had already spread rapidly through the luxury seating area, forcing him to retreat due to thick smoke. Locals rushed to assist and alerted the police and fire services.
By the time the fire tender arrived, the bus was engulfed in flames. Firefighters exhausted one tanker and returned with another, finally bringing the blaze under control after nearly 40 minutes. A large crowd gathered at the site as the bus burned down completely.
The driver said the vehicle was nearly new, insured, and due to complete one year in February. All documents stored in the dashboard were destroyed.
The cause of the fire remains unknown. According to the driver, the bus was completely switched off, with no electrical systems running, leading to suspicions of an unexplained ignition source.
