A major fire broke ut at the steel melting shop of SAIL's Bokaro Steel Plant (BSL), an official said here in the early hours of Friday. Fire tenders were deployed to douse the flames, he said, adding there were no reports of any casualties so far. "Metal leakage has been reported in Tundish 3 of Caster 2 in SMS (Steel Melting Shop) 2 due to which there is a fire in the caster. Fire brigade has been deployed. No casualties have been reported and further details are awaited," Chief of Communication, Bokaro Steel Plant (BSL), Manikant Dhan told PTI.


"An enquiry will be done to ascertain the exact cause of the fire. The incident occurred around 11 pm (on Thursday) due to hot metal leakage," the official said. A SAIL official said that at the time of the incident, no worker was present at the automated unit. Around 1,000 workers are deployed in the entire plant spread over more than 10,000 acres, as reported by PTI.


SMS-2's Tundish car and large parts of Caster 2 have been gutted by the fire, the official said.


In another incident, more than a dozen passengers had a narrow escape on Thursday after a CNG bus they were travelling in caught fire on the Yamuna Expressway in Greater Noida, officials said, as reported by PTI. The bus, operated by the Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) also called UP roadways, was going from Noida to Jewar when the fire broke out around 3.30 pm, they said. Nobody was hurt in the episode, Chief Fire Officer of Gautam Budh Nagar Pradeep Kumar Choubey said, adding that the fire department was alerted about the incident after a commuter shared a video on social media showing the burning bus.


“Upon receiving the alert, the fire service unit from Ecotech-1 fire station promptly responded and reached the spot. However, by the time they arrived at around 4 pm, the fire had already been extinguished by the fire service units stationed at the Jewar toll plaza and Jaypee Infratech. These units had quickly reached the scene after the driver dialled the emergency number,” Choubey said, as quoted by PTI.


The incident took place near the 24-kilometer milestone, falling under the jurisdiction of Rabupura police station, the officer said, adding "no casualty was reported as the bus driver, staff, and passengers had safely evacuated the vehicle after noticing smoke emanating from the engine". Authorities are now investigating the cause of the fire, and measures will be taken to prevent such incidents in the future, he added.


Meanwhile, local police officials said traffic movement on the expressway was not hit due to the incident and the charred remains of the bus were being removed from the carriageway, as reported by PTI.


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