A school van of a private English medium school caught fire near the Bhogdoi masjid in Jorhat on Wednesday.
Fortunately, the van which is used to ferry children to the school, had no passenger at the time of the incident and no one was injured.
Firefighters doused the fire and the driver had alighted as soon as he spotted smoke inside the van. The incident happened at about 11.30 am.
One of the firemen said that the fire may have been caused due to an electric short circuit.
The van, however, did not suffer much damage.
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A source said that the traffic police did not monitor such vans and that none of them were equipped with firefighting equipment.
The source also expressed concern that such incident has seriously put children’s lives in danger.
He alleged that several such vans are overloaded with children but the administration is not bothered.
A traffic policeman when contacted said that he was unaware of the details and did not know who the owner of the vehicle was.