Author: Dave Graham and Olivia Le Poivin
KZES, Switzerland, March 11 (Reuters) – A bus fire in western Switzerland killed at least six people and injured three others, with police saying it may have been a deliberate act and one media outlet reporting that someone set himself on fire.
Police said the bus was engulfed in flames on a road in Kerzers, canton Friborg, on Tuesday night. Kzeis is a small town of about 5,000 inhabitants in the canton of Fribourg, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the Swiss capital of Bern.
Friborg police spokesman Frederic Papaux said: “At this stage we have evidence that the people inside the bus acted deliberately.”
Christa Bielmann, another local police spokesperson, said investigators were looking into reports that someone poured fuel on themselves. She told a news conference it was too early to tell whether the incident was terrorism-related.
“There is nothing to suggest that we might be dealing with a terrorist attack,” local Friborg politician Romain Collaud told Swiss-French broadcaster RTS.
Three injured people were taken to hospital, police said. Two other people caught in the fire were also taken into consideration but did not require hospital treatment.
Passengers were seen fleeing from the burning bus, panicked and even injured, Pabo said.
The Swiss media “20 Minutes” said that it saw a video taken at the scene. An injured person said: “A man set himself on fire. He poured gasoline on his body and then set himself on fire.”
The charred remains of the bus
Video after the flames were extinguished showed the charred remains of the yellow vehicle.
Mina Gendre was about to close the store where she worked when she saw a fire starting inside a bus that had been parked unexpectedly across the street. About half a minute later, it burst into flames, she said.
“It was shocking,” Gende said. “I saw people running out of the burning bus.”
As smoke billowed from the bus, Gende closed the door to the store to protect it while bystanders helped put out the fire on the man wearing the jacket, she said.
Local resident Vanessa Liuzzi, 37, who left flowers at the scene, said there was tension in the town and word was circulating that someone had set himself on fire.
“That’s what people are saying. It’s obviously very sad that things have gotten to the point where there are attacks or attempts to attack people’s lives. No one thought this would happen in Kesse.”
“I’m shocked, I’m sad, I’m desperate,” she said.
Local resident Margrit Schneider, 82, stood at the scene of the fire, fighting back tears.
“I’ve been here 65 years and nothing like this has ever happened here before,” she said.
Collod said it could take days to identify the six dead, adding that it was not yet clear whether the suspected arsonist was among the victims.
Bus company expresses condolences
Stefan Regli, head of the Postauto bus company, said it was a terrible tragedy and expressed his condolences.
“All employees at Postauto and Swiss Post, like me, are shocked and saddened,” Legree said in a statement.
Swiss President Guy Parmelin expressed his condolences and said the incident was being investigated.
“I am shocked and saddened that people have once again lost their lives in a serious fire in Switzerland,” he said in a statement on the X website, noting that an investigation was ongoing.
In January, a fire broke out in a bar in the Crans-Montana ski resort in Switzerland, killing 41 people and injuring 115 others.
“The wounds of Crans-Montana are still fresh and triggered a strong reaction today,” Collod said. “These are clearly events that no one wants to experience or relive. However, they now seem to be part of everyday life, happening more frequently in Switzerland and around the world, which is unfortunate,” he told RTS.
(Reporting by Dave Graham in Kerzers and Olivia Le Poidevin in Geneva; Additional reporting by Cecile Mantovani; Editing by Neil Fullick, Lincoln Feast, Michael Perry and Alex Richardson)
