Fire ignites in back of MBTA bus (includes video link)WHDH-TV Boston
BOSTON -- More than 40 people were on board a MBTA bus Friday morning when the vehicle burst into flames.
"It sounded like a huge gunshot," Roger Rodrigue, a passenger, said. "We initially thought it was just a blowout of the tire."
Smoke began billowing out of the back of the bus, followed by flames.
"For 45 seconds, there was no way to get off the bus," Rodrigue's friend and fellow passenger, John Perry, said. "So, everybody was scrambling [and] trying to get off. I was terrified. I didn't know what it was. It could have been anything. I just wanted to get out of there."
Passengers tried to use the bus's emergency windows to escape.
No injuries have been reported. However, the bus driver did seek medical treatment after the incident for emotional reasons.
Investigators are still working to discover the cause of the explosion.
Friday's incident was not the first time flames have terrorized MBTA bus passengers. In Dec. 2005, three buses caught fire at the Hancock Street storage yard. Earlier that same year in October, a blaze broke out on a MBTA bus in Everett. MBTA bus fires have also occurred in Sullivan Square and twice on the Mass. Pike.
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