An investigation is under way after a bus carrying a number of passengers caught fire overnight on the M1 motorway in north Co Dublin.
It happened on the southbound carriageway between Junction 5 Balbriggan and Junction 4 Donabate just before 2am.
All passengers were evacuated and transported to an alternative bus. There were no reports of any injuries.
Gardaí said the bus has been removed from the scene for a technical and forensic examination.
It was carrying fans of Shelbourne FC returning from Derry City's Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium after being crowned SSE Airtricity League of Ireland Premier Division champions.
The coach itself was one of a fleet of coaches owned and operated by Eirebus.
Sinéad Kavanagh, managing director of Eirebus, said that the incident was under investigation and that CCTV from other vehicles would be assessed.
She said that it was fortunate that nobody was injured, and added that there had been no prior issues with the eight-year-old 36-seater coach.
There was CCTV on the coach itself, but it was damaged as a result of the fire and it is not yet known as to whether it will be retrieved.
Overnight firefighters were called to a coach fire on the #M1 Southbound at J5 Balbriggan.
— Dublin Fire Brigade (@DubFireBrigade) November 2, 2024
Three fire engines from Balbriggan, Swords and Finglas fire stations along with a foam tender from Tara Street fire station attended the incident. pic.twitter.com/i7RtlLMbuK
Dublin Fire Brigade attended the incident with three fire engines from Balbriggan, Swords and Finglas fire stations along with a foam tender from Tara Street Fire Station.
A passenger on the bus, Evin Hughes, said that the incident all happened quite quickly.
He said: "All was quiet on the bus but then an alarm went off on the driver's dash telling him to stop the bus immediately.
"He pulled in and turned the engine off and thinking it was a sensor failure, but the alarm kept popping up - and then one came up saying it was a fire.
"We started to smell smoke, so I immediately got everyone to evacuate the bus. We were all off and standing about 10-15 metres up the road on the grass verge for less than five minutes, at which point there was a loud pop nose. Then the flames really started.
"The whole thing was up in flames within probably ten minutes."
