Express bus catches fire, driver and 27 passengers safe

GEORGE TOWN: All 27 passengers and the driver of an express bus which caught fire at Kilometre 149.7 of the North South Expressway near here today are safe.
Operation chief at the Sungai Bakap Fire and Rescue station Syahidan Sahid said firemen, who arrived at the scene 10 minutes after receiving a distress call at 9.26am, saw 70% of the bus gutted.
"It took some time for the firemen to arrive at the scene because the road was congested as motorists slowed down their vehicles to watch the fire," he said when contacted.
He said the bus caught fire in front of a date factory at Selatan Juru heading to Bukit Tambun.
The incident caused a four kilometre traffic jam, he added.
He said the fire was believed to have started from the back of the bus before spreading to the front, but the driver managed to stop the bus on the emergency lane and ordered the passengers to get down.
The bus was on its way to Kuala Lumpur from Butterworth. The passengers then continued their journey on another bus provided by the same express bus company. – Bernama