Fifteen passengers on a Bus Éireann Expressway coach, which caught fire shortly after leaving a bus station in Co Donegal yesterday, managed to safely escape the vehicle.
The bus burst into flames on the outskirts of Letterkenny at the Dry Arch Roundabout around 8.30pm.
One woman who witnessed the incident said: "We were driving past it and all you could see was this huge fire in the distance and we suddenly noticed it was a bus on fire.
"It was pretty frightening. Hopefully nobody was injured. The fire brigade and gardaí were there pretty quickly but there was a huge traffic tailback."
Gardaí and other emergency services attended the scene and the road was immediately cordoned off to allow the fire service to extinguish the blaze.
The bus was travelling to Dublin from Letterkenny and had only left the bus station two minutes earlier when it encountered trouble.
One passenger, who asked not to be named, told the Donegal Daily news website that passengers began to hear "small explosions."
Smoke then began to come into the bus.
One passenger opened an emergency exit and all the passengers managed to get out.
It is also understood that the passengers' luggage was taken off the bus before the fire caught momentum.
Fifteen passengers on a Bus Éireann Expressway coach, which caught fire shortly after leaving a bus station in Co Donegal yesterday, managed to safely escape the vehicle | Read more: https://t.co/mLfrfOAlcN pic.twitter.com/krlIv4ZL1C
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) January 6, 2023
The passengers were taken back to Letterkenny bus station and were put on a second bus for their journey to Dublin.
Bus Éireann said a comprehensive and thorough investigation will be undertaken to determine the cause of the fire.
"This is an exceptionally rare occurrence in our fleet," a spokesperson said.
"Bus Éireann would like to thank the emergency services, our driver and passengers for their rapid and effective response to the situation."
