A fire broke out in a North Bengal State Transport Corporation (NBSTC) bus travelling from Jalpaiguri to Mainaguri and nearly gutted the vehicle on Monday morning.
Sources said the fire started around 10am when the bus reached the Debinagar area of Mainaguri, prompting the driver to pull the brakes.
The passengers hurried down from the bus and soon the fire intensified.
A fire engine from the local fire station doused the flames. The driver has sustained minor burn injuries, sources said. An inquiry to ascertain the cause of the fire is on.
Student dies
Vishal Tamang, 17, an eleventh-standard student at Judhabir Higher Secondary High School in Gorubathan, Kalimpong, died in a road accident on Monday afternoon.
Vishal, a resident of the Nagrakata block of Jalpaiguri, was travelling home from school on the roof of a passenger vehicle.
As the vehicle reached Bhuttabari, the boy slipped and fell on the road. Locals rushed him to the super-speciality hospital in Malbazar where doctors pronounced him dead.
A team from the Gorubathan police station has seized the vehicle and detained the driver, said sources.