WATCH: Bus on fire causes major traffic jam on N1 highway

The N1 South highway has been closed off to traffic after a bus caught fire on Wednesday morning.

It is understood the incident happened just off the Gordan Road offramp near the Maraisburg turnoff.

The Citizen journalist Narissa Subramoney is currently on the scene.

“There is a vehicle on fire at the moment, we are waiting for the fire brigade to get to the scene. They have opened one lane to the traffic. The bus is still on fire. The paramedic on scene told me only one person was in the bus which is the driver but he escaped unharmed,” she said.

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“It seem the tyres on the vehicle are exploding, we can still hear explosions, but due to the backup of traffic, this is one of the reasons that one lane has been opened to allow traffic to pass through,” Subramoney said.

Subramoney said emergency services had arrived on scene.

She said according to a paramedic on scene, the N12 highway is likely to be affected until the blaze is extinguished.

“One of the paramedics on scene estimates that it will take hours to put out the fire. Also, the fire trucks that arrived to assist with putting out the blaze didn’t come with a water tanker.

“So, he told me it’ll be hours before they can put that fire out and – in all likelihood – it would need a fire truck that has a water tanker on it,” she said.

Compiled by Faizel Patel

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