The fire originated at kilometer 65 of the Mexico-Querétaro highway near the Hidalgo municipality of Tepeji del Río.
TEPEJI DEL RÍO.- A passenger bus was burned when it caught fire on the Mexico-Querétaro highway at kilometer 65 near the Tepeji del Río municipality in the state of Hidalgo, heading towards the state of Querétaro. Fortunately, the passengers managed to escape unharmed and only the total loss of the transport unit and large mobilization of the emergency corps were recorded.
The alert was issued to emergency numbers on the night of Thursday, December 14, when they reported a passenger bus on fire on the highway that crosses part of the state of Hidalgo. Firefighters from various municipalities and states, Hidalgo, State of Mexico and Querétaro, immediately moved to the scene to attend to those affected and put out the flames.
At the scene, security and civil protection agents confirmed the bus was on fire and the passengers managed to escape alive from the fire. According to the preliminary report, the bus would have suffered a mechanical failure and then caught fire and burned completely down to the bare iron of the unit.
In this first report they indicated that the unit was traveling with 10 passengers who had left from Hermosillo, Sonora and were heading to the state of Oaxaca. Suddenly, the bus began to suffer a mechanical failure and according to witnesses they saw smoke coming out from behind. It arrived at the Tepeji municipality of Hidalgo, where the fire started in the tires, so they presume the accident had to do with the brake pads that heated up and caused the fire.
As best he could, the bus driver pulled over. The rapid fire began to reach the entire unit and asked the passengers to abandon the vehicle to get to safety. Some of the passengers even managed to take out their suitcases and in a matter of seconds they witnessed how the fire completely consumed the bus.
Some motorists passing through the area stopped to help those affected; However, little could be done for the truck which was completely burned. The emergency department continued with the work to control the fire and cool the unit to proceed with the removal of the unit and determine the amount of damage.
After the scare, the passengers had to wait for another unit to continue the trip and reach their destinations safely. Due to the accident, the Mexico-Querétaro road was affected in one of the traffic lanes, which remained closed to remove the unit and carry out the corresponding expertise to determine the exact causes that gave rise to the fire.
Source: La Silla Rota
