6 Killed, 3 Injured in Swiss Bus Fire After Suspected Deliberate Act

 

At least six people have died and three others were injured after a bus caught fire in Kerzers, western Switzerland, in what authorities believe may have been a deliberate act.

Police said the bus was engulfed in flames on Tuesday on a road in Kerzers, a town in the Canton of Fribourg, about 20 kilometres from the Swiss capital, Bern.

A spokesperson for the Fribourg police, Frederic Papaux, said preliminary findings suggest that a person on board may have intentionally started the fire.

“At this stage we have elements suggesting a deliberate act by a person who was in the bus,” Papaux said.

Another police spokesperson, Christa Bielmann, said investigators were examining reports that a man may have poured fuel on himself before setting himself alight. She added that it was too early to determine the exact motive behind the incident.

Authorities also said there was currently no indication that the blaze was linked to terrorism.

Romain Collaud, a state councillor in Fribourg, told the Swiss-French broadcaster RTS that investigations were ongoing and that there was no evidence suggesting a terrorist attack.

Emergency services confirmed that three injured passengers were taken to hospital, while two others received medical attention at the scene but did not require hospitalisation.

According to police, passengers were seen fleeing the burning bus in panic on Tuesday evening, many of them injured. No other vehicles were involved in the incident.

Swiss media outlet 20 Minutes reported that a video recorded at the scene showed an injured passenger claiming that a man had set himself on fire after pouring petrol on his body.

Footage taken after the blaze was extinguished showed the burnt remains of the vehicle, identified as a yellow Postauto public bus.

Swiss President Guy Parmelin expressed condolences to the victims’ families and said authorities were working to determine the cause of the tragedy.

“It shocks and saddens me that again people have lost their lives in a serious fire in Switzerland,” Parmelin said in a message posted on X.

The incident comes weeks after another deadly blaze in January at a bar in the ski resort town of Crans-Montana, which killed 41 people and injured 115.