Bus burns on Hummingbird; no one hurt

Fifty-three people on board a bus escaped injury over the weekend after a dramatic fire completely destroyed the vehicle on the Hummingbird Highway. Around four on Sunday afternoon, Osborne Jones, reported to police that he was driving the three o’clock Novelo’s Bus from Dangriga to Belmopan, when upon reaching a curve near mile thirty-eight, he felt the bus drift to one side, accompanied by a loud hissing noise. Before he could wrestled the vehicle to a halt, Jones says the engine stalled, bringing the bus to a rapid stop. Thinking it was a mechanical problem, Jones says he came out to investigate and that was when he noticed that the left rear tire was on fire. At that point, after everyone was ordered off the bus, all the driver and his passengers could do was watch it go up in flames. According to the manager of Southern Transport, Patrick Miranda, the driver told him that the rear brakes locked up on him and because the vehicle was in motion, the resulting friction sparked a fire in the brake drum which quickly spread to the tires and engulfed the bus. Miranda says that the driver tried to get water from the Sibun River to put the flames out but his efforts were futile. Police say there was no fire extinguisher aboard, while Miranda says there was. In any case, if it existed it was not used effectively. The bus was insured and Miranda says the loss of the vehicle will not disrupt service between Dangriga and Belmopan, as an existing run from Punta Gorda will be extended to fill the gap until another bus is deployed.

In related news, one person suffered serious injuries night after a vehicle he was traveling in crashed into the burnt out bus frame. Around eight forty-five on Sunday night, Jose de la Fuente was driving his pickup towards Belmopan in the company of his wife and brother, thirty-nine-year-old Mario. De la Fuente says that he was about to overtake the wreckage when he observed another vehicle coming over the Sibun bridge in the opposite direction with its high beams on. To avoid a head on collision, De la Fuente says he swerved into the bus. Mario sustained abrasions to both his hands and fractured both legs. The driver and other passenger escaped injury.