A commercial bus fully loaded with passengers was razed to ashes yesterday along Ezza Road, Abakaliki in Ebonyi state, with no casualty recorded.
The Mitsubishi L300 bus, burst into flames consuming all the passengers luggage while everyone on board scampered for safety.
The fire was said to have started from the engine when the driver of the bus stopped momentarily to pick a passenger but noticed an abnormal odor from the engine.
A passenger recounts their experience this way: “After putting the schoolgirl’s luggage into the boot of the bus, the driver had hardly opened the bus for his passenger, when he noticed thick smoke emitting from the engine.
“As he rushed to open the boot, he was greeted by an outburst of flames and melting wires. All efforts to put out the fire proved abortive, as he had no fire extinguisher.”
It was also gathered that the passengers, who noticed the intensity of fire emitting from the engine, scampered for safety.
One of the passengers, identified as Mr. Eze Daniel, argued that the fire could not have escalated the way it did, if the driver of the bus had fire extinguisher.
When Vanguard visited the scene of the incident, there was no fire service personnel in the area as, policemen made frantic efforts to avert undue vehicular traffic.