Five people killed in bus fire in Turkey's west

13:41, 03.08.2019

At least five people were killed and 15 were injured in a fire that erupted on a passenger bus in the western province of Balıkesir on Aug. 2. Ambulances, gendarmerie forces and fire squads were immediately dispatched to the scene.

The bus was carrying 37 people, 34 of which were passengers. The driver of the bus was detained in the scope of an initial inquiry.
“Five citizens lost their lives, one of which was a child. The injured were immediately hospitalized,” the Governor’s Office of Balıkesir said in a written statement, as reported by Turkish Daily News.

“After the fire broke out from the coffee machine, the driver pulled the car over and asked the passengers to calmly evacuate [the bus], according to the driver and his assistant,” Yücel Yılmaz, the mayor of Balıkesir, told reporters.

As they tried to get off the bus in a panic, some were stuck in front of the bus’s door, the mayor said. “Our early guess is that our five citizens were suffocated due to the toxic fumes and then died in the flames,” he added.

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