The driver of Modern Coast bus that caught fire at Bendera shopping center along the Chavakali-Kapsabet road has revealed what caused the fire.

The bus was enroute to Mombasa from Mumias when the incident happened.

According to the driver identified as Eli, he was trying to avoid hitting a pothole and there was a scene of accident involving two cars on that road and some petrol spilt on the road.

When the bus approached the scene, Eli applied emergency brakes to avoid hitting the cars causing the tyres to screech over the section of the road that had some petrol spill.

The friction may have caused the petrol to ignite and the rear tyres of the bus burst into flames.

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The fire spread quickly and within a short time the bus caught fire as the crew could not access the 20-kilogram dry powder fire extinguisher which would have extinguished the fire effectively.

Typical of any responsible steward, Eli assisted his passengers get out of the burning bus safely and fortunately, nobody was injured in the incident.

The company’s management dispatched another bus which was on standby in Kakamega to go rescue the passengers and continue with their journey to Mombasa.