Tumelo Tsoeleng, who witnessed the incident that brought traffic to a standstill on 31 October said he was busy with a phone call in a nearby building when he heard a big bang.
“We all thought it was thunder and didn’t pay attention to it”, said Tsoeleng.
Immediately after the bang, a cloud of dust that blew through the windows. Tsoeleng said a second loud bang made everyone in his office run to the windows to see what was happening.
As they tried to figure out where the bang came from, most of them thought the nearby bus rapid transit (BRT) system station had exploded or there was a car accident. Tsoeleng then saw huge flames and a cloud of black smoke.
“We then noticed the bus was on fire and the [passengers] had already been evacuated.”
Emergency services were on the scene within minutes and traffic from both directions were brought to a standstill, including the BRT buses.
Robert Mulaudzi, City of Johannesburg Emergency Medical Services (EMS) spokesperson, said they were on the scene within 15 minutes to control the situation.
He confirmed that no injuries were reported. Mulaudzi added, “The cause of the fire its unknown at this stage, however [the bus] might have had some mechanical problems while en-route.”
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