Visakhapatnam, Nov 6 : A bus of the Road Transport Corporation (RTC) of Odisha was gutted in a fire in Andhra Pradesh's Parvatipuram Manyam district on Thursday. There were no casualties.

A major disaster was averted as the alert driver immediately stopped the bus after noticing smoke, and all passengers safely alighted before the flames engulfed the entire vehicle.

The accident occurred around 7.45 a.m. near Roddavalasa in Pachipenta Mandal of Partvatipuram Manyam district.

The Odisha RTC bus was on its way from Visakhapatnam to Jeypore in Odisha. There were only five passengers at the time of the accident on the Andhra-Odisha ghat road.

According to police, the bus driver noticed smoke coming out from the engine and immediately stopped the bus. He alerted the passengers, who all alighted.

A fire engine rushed to the spot to douse the fire. However, by the time the fire engine reached there, the bus had been completely gutted.

The cause of the fire was not known. Police registered a case and took up an investigation.

Minister for Women and Child Development and Tribal Welfare Gummadi Sandhya Rani spoke to officials and enquired about the accident. She directed officials to conduct an inquiry and submit the report.

Telugu states have seen a series of road accidents involving RTC and private buses during the last couple of weeks.

Nineteen people were burnt to death when a private bus caught fire after running over a motorbike lying on the road near Kurnool town of Andhra Pradesh on October 24.

The bus belonging to V Kaveri Travels was engulfed in flames after the motorbike got stuck under its belly. The spark and fuel leakage from the bike triggered the massive blaze.

A head-on collision between a Telangana RTC bus and a tipper truck in Telangana's Rangareddy district on November 3 also claimed 19 lives and left more than 20 injured.

The accident occurred near Mirzaguda in Chevella mandal, about 60 km from Hyderabad, when a speeding truck carrying construction material rammed into a bus, which was going to Hyderabad from Tandur. Several passengers were buried under the gravel.

The same night, a private bus overturned in Andhra Pradesh's Eluru district, killing a man and injuring 10 others. The accident occurred when the bus belonging to Bharati Travels, and coming to Hyderabad from Eluru, overturned while negotiating a turn at Jubilee Nagar.

On November 4, one person was killed and eight others injured when a private bus rammed into a truck in Andhra Pradesh's Sri Sathya Sai district.

The accident occurred near Dhamajipalli in Chennakothapalle mandal when the Hyderabad-Bengaluru bus was negotiating a turn.

/IANS