Highway bus catches fire in Japan’s Hokkaido

TOKYO, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) — A highway bus on Saturday caught fire in the northern Japanese prefecture of Hokkaido, with no injuries reported so far, according to local authorities.
At around 5:05 p.m. local time, the vehicle, an airport shuttle bus en route from Sapporo to New Chitose Airport, caught fire on the Doo Expressway near Eniwa City.
The driver called emergency services after noticing flames coming from the engine but failed to extinguish the fire, and the bus became engulfed in flames.
All 13 people on board, including 12 passengers and the driver, safely evacuated without injury, according to the local fire department.
Firefighters are still working to extinguish the blaze, which caused a temporary closure of the expressway’s northbound lanes between Kitahiroshima and Eniwa interchanges.
Footage from local broadcasters as of 6:00 p.m. local time showed the severely burned bus stationary on the highway, with visible flames coming from the front of the vehicle. No other vehicles were affected. ■