CHANDIGARH: It was daybreak and 47year-old Punjab Roadways driver Nanak Chand Sharma already had 80 passengers on board the Pathankot-Chandigarh bus on Monday. As he concentrated on the road ahead, at 5.35 am, a man in Army uniform with his face covered with a cloth, stepped on to the path of the vehicle and signalled him to halt. Following some instinct, Sharma didn't heed him. This helped avert a bloodbath as consequent events were to prove.

The man in uniform, who is believed to be one of the terrorists who struck at Dinanagar police station, fired a volley of gun shots at the rear of the bus, injuring two passengers, terrorising everyone on board.

Relieved that he had made the right decision, the driver pf the Punbus vehicle (PB-06-G-9569) from Pathankot depot stepped on the pedal.

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"I only stopped the bus at Gurdaspur Civil Hospital where medical treatment was given to the injured. Had I stopped the bus, all of us would have been probably gunned down by the terrorists. They were carrying automatic weapons. The other terrorists could have been hiding and may have come out to fire, but I didn't look back," he recalled.

"It all happened in a flash. When death is staring you in the face, survival instinct takes over. Thankfully everyone on the bus is safe."

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Talking about the appreciation he had got for his presence of mind, Sharma said, "I also got calls from my teenaged son and daughter who were worried about my safety. It is part of my duty to keep the passengers safe. I have been driving the bus for the past five years on this route."

The driver is a resident of the small village in Pathankot bordering Jammu and Kashmir.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson of deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal's office announced that the bus driver will also be honoured by the state government for saving passengers from the terrorist attack.