BANGKOK — A bus was engulfed by raging flames after it pulled up to a downtown shopping mall Tuesday morning.
The fire started at about 9:30am aboard bus No. 40 as it arrived in front of Gateway Ekkamai on Sukhumvit Road. Firefighters were able to put out the flames about 30 minutes later.
The bus was left a burned out shell. There were no injuries.
Adul Seeta, the driver, later told investigators he didn’t notice anything wrong with the vehicle when he left the terminal at 8:30am.
“When I pulled up to the bus stop, I smelled something burning inside the bus, so I told passengers to get out,” he said. “I saw smoke and flames coming out of the engine in the back.”
He was unable to control the fire with an extinguisher equipped inside.
The Bangkok Mass Transit Authority said the cause of the fire was by an electrical short in the engine without elaborating. It ordered an inspection of all Chinese-made Golden Dragon NGV buses in service.
The bus was operated by Pornpin Transport and had been in service for about 10 years.
Update: This story has been updated with additional information from transit authority.
