The mischievous nature of children, which otherwise is a cause of great worry for adults, came to the rescue of eight kids on Tuesday, when a van ferrying them home from school caught fire near Parel Bus Depot. All of them had stepped out of it with the girl who was to be dropped off at the spot, and the driver stepped out to herd them back into it, when a spark set off a blaze that soon engulfed the vehicle. All of them escaped.

But the incident has again raised the question of the safety of children in the vans which are being used rampantly as school buses; even as on paper, any vehicle with a capacity of less than 13 seats is banned from use as a school bus.