The flames enveloping the sheet metal carcass of the bus in a ball of fire, the screams of the shocked witnesses. These are the images that come from the tragedy that struck the Canton of Friborg in Switzerland, where the fire of a post bus – a bus used to transport mail and which also allows access to passengers – caused at least 6 deaths and 5 injuries, including a rescuer, according to the police.
Three are in critical condition, while the media reports disturbing testimonies – not yet confirmed by the authorities – according to which the fire was caused by a man who set himself on fire.
The alarm went off around 6.30pm local time in Kerzers, about twenty kilometers west of Bern. The first to report the news were the portals Blick and 20min.ch together with the newspaper La Liberté, while in the evening the police confirmed the accident, initially speaking of “several dead and injured” of which one was transported to Zurich by helicopter, before giving an initial assessment of the tragedy in the evening of six dead – yet to be identified – and five injured. In the meantime, numerous videos and photos of the fire, recorded by witnesses, have started to bounce around the internet, showing the horror of passers-by, the flames several meters high that completely envelop the bus, causing a column of smoke visible for kilometers away, and the work of the firefighters in an attempt to put out the fire.
Footage obtained by the Swiss newspaper Blick shows a man with his face blackened by smoke. He is asked what happened. “A man set himself on fire inside,” he replies in Albanian. Then he waves his arms and continues: «He poured himself some petrol and set himself on fire!». Other eyewitnesses reported the same reconstruction. The police indicated that one person would be implicated but underlined that they could not confirm what was reported by the media, speaking of “human error” but without being able to rule out “deliberate action”.
An investigation has been opened into the tragedy which will have to clarify what happened, while according to the police it is impossible to determine with the initial information whether or not it was a terrorist act.