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Freedom Mupanedemo

Midlands Bureau

Forty-three passengers including learners on their way to school, yesterday escaped death by a whisker after an Inter Africa bus caught fire near Battlefields between Kwekwe and Kadoma.

Most of the bags were burnt as focus was on getting every person out.

Some passengers were injured in a stampede to get out of the burning bus.

Midlands Provincial police spokesperson, Inspector Emmanuel Mahoko confirmed the incident which occurred around midday.

He said the value of goods lost was still to be quantified.

“We can confirm the fire accident involving a bus this afternoon (yesterday) where the bus was reduced to a shell, with passengers losing their luggage.

“But we are still to get details,” he said.

Mr Paradzai Makombe, who was on the bus, said no one salvaged anything from the bus.

“It was so sudden that we only managed to stampede out of the bus, leaving everything behind.

“Only a few used the door, the majority of people jumped through windows, with some sustaining minor burns,” he said.

Another passenger, Mr Lovemore Rutsata, said the fire started from the engine of the bus.

“The driver applied emergency brakes and we all started to rush out of the bus. No one knows what caused the fire, but the bus was reduced to a shell as several efforts to try and put out the fire failed,” he said.