Six people died and three were injured in a bus fire in a small Swiss town believed to have been caused by a man on board who set fire to himself, authorities said yesterday.
Swiss investigators said they saw no evidence that the man, who one official described as “disturbed” and was likely among the dead, had intended to commit any kind of terrorist attack.
The bus was engulfed in flames on Tuesday evening on a road near the centre of Kerzers, a town of about 5,000 inhabitants in the western canton of Fribourg, about 20km from the Swiss capital Bern, police said.
“As for the motive, there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that this could be a terrorist act,” said Raphael Bourquin, attorney general of the canton of Fribourg.
The victims were aged between 17 and 65 years old, the authorities said, without giving details on nationalities.
The suspect, a man of Swiss origin who has not been identified, is believed to have boarded the bus with bags before dousing himself in flammable material and starting the blaze, officials said. He was understood to be in his 60s and had been reported missing by his family, they added.
Investigators were going through CCTV footage as well as social media posts to understand the man’s motives, and further searches and interviews would take place, officials said.
Three injured people were taken to hospital.
Passengers were seen escaping from the burning bus, panicked and injured.
&uuid=(email))