6 dead after man reportedly sets himself on fire on bus in Switzerland

At least six people have been killed and five others have been injured after a fire broke out on a passenger bus in Kerzers in western Switzerland, according to officials. Authorities said the fire may have been set deliberately, while local media reported that a man may have set himself on fire inside the bus.

The fire broke out at about 6:25 p.m. Tuesday on Murtenstrasse in Kerzers, according to cantonal police in Fribourg, a western Swiss canton near Bern.

At a news conference, Fribourg police said at least six people were killed and four passengers were injured, according to Swiss public broadcaster SRF. Police also reported a fifth injured person, a paramedic. SRF said three of the injured are in critical condition.

Authorities said the cause remains under investigation, but police believe one person was involved and that the fire appears to be deliberate.

Blick, a Swiss news outlet, reported that video from the scene appeared to show a soot-covered man saying in Albanian that a man had poured gasoline on himself and set himself on fire inside the bus. Other eyewitnesses gave similar accounts to the outlet, but police had not confirmed those reports.

The bus involved was a PostBus, part of Switzerland’s yellow postal bus network that provides public transportation across the country, including in smaller towns and rural areas.

The fire comes a little over two months after another deadly blaze in Switzerland. On Jan. 1, 41 people were killed and 116 others were injured in a fire at Le Constellation bar in the ski resort town of Crans-Montana.