01 Nov 2019

Twenty passengers escaped without injuries after a bus they were traveling in caught fire at Mahalapye. The Gaborone bound bus from Francistown was gutted by fire at around 4.30pm, about a kilometre before arriving in Mahalapye Thursday afternoon.

Sub Inspector John Phiri of Mahalapye Police Station has confirmed that no casualties or injuries were recorded in the fire incident. Even though investigations were still at an embryonic stage, Sub Inspector Phori, who was at the scene of the incident, has stated that based on the information from an interview with the driver, the fire incident could have resulted from a mechanical fault. The 65-sitter bus, belonging to Khanda Express Company, was transporting 20 passengers at the time of the incident.

In an interview with BOPA, the driver of the bus, Mr Enuwero Chisiyanwa revealed that he pulled the bus to a halt at around 4.30pm to investigate the cause of a banging sound and did not suspect anything serious. I was only alerted by other motorists that the rear tyres of the bus had caught fire.

With the help of some passengers, we tried to extinguish the fire with an extinguisher, but the fire got out of control as we opened the engine cover in an effort to quench the flames that were coming from the engine area, said Mr Chisiyanwa.  He said all the 20 passengers were safely removed from the burning bus as none of them was injured by the fire. However, the whole bus burned to ashes. ENDS