A bus in Shenzhen with about 20 passengers on board was engulfed in flames downtown yesterday. All passengers escaped with no injury.
The fire took place about a week after a bus fire in Chengdu city killed at least 27 passengers and injured more than 70. It was also the second fire within two days for the same bus company in Shenzhen.
Yesterday's incident took place at about 9.30am. Other drivers failed to extinguish the blaze before two fire engines arrived. The bus was severely burned - the glass windows were damaged, the roof and seats had been reduced to ashes, the dashboard had melted and electrical wires were exposed.
The driver, surnamed Zhu, said there was a strange odour before smoke came out from the dashboard. He immediately left the vehicle to turn off the electricity supply devices at the rear, but the blaze broke out shortly thereafter. He said he believed the fire was started by an electrical-circuit failure.
A manager of the Western Bus company, which owned the vehicle, blamed the poor design of the bus for the short circuit, according to a China National Radio report.
Only a day earlier, a fire had broken out on another bus owned by the same company. No casualties were reported. The company said it would check another 40 buses of the same model. The bus manufacturer, Suzhou -based Kinglong, said it would deploy experts to investigate the cause of the fire, the radio said.
