Firefighters putting out the bus fire near Kampung Jerok at Jalan Serian-Sri Aman last night.
KUCHING: Thirty-seven passengers of an express bus from Mukah to Kuching escaped unhurt when bus caught fire near Kampung Jerok at Jalan Serian-Sri Aman last night.
When asked to describe what had happened during the incident, a 37-year-old passenger who wished to remain anonymous, said the bus experienced problem on one of its tyres when it burst and caught fire at around 7.40pm .
“I was seated in front where the burst tyre was and when we heard the burst noise, all passengers disembarked quickly from the bus.
“We only managed to salvage a few personal belongings of ours when the bus caught fire,” he told Utusan Borneo said when contacted last night.
He added that the bus driver attempted to extinguish the fire using a fire extinguisher but was unsuccessful.
“Few other passengers also helped in trying to extinguish the fire using mineral water but to no avail and the fire spread to other part of the bus,” he said.
Meanwhile, a Sarawak Fire and Rescue Department (JBPM) spokesperson said they received a report on the incident at around 8.18pm and personnel from the Serian fire station were dispatched to the scene.
“Upon reaching scene, an express bus that was ferrying 37 passengers including the express bus driver from Mukah to Kuching, had caught fire,” the spokesperson said in a statement last night.
However, he said there were no casualties in the fire incident as all passengers managed to escape unhurt.
The Bomba spokesperson said the fire was completely put out at 10.54pm.