A Shwe La Min express passenger bus headed from Mandalay to Sittwe caught fire yesterday afternoon after the vehicle’s left tire burst into flames, eventually setting the entire bus ablaze, video of which has gone viral on social media.
At 3:50pm, driver Ko Kyaw Thu pulled the burning vehicle onto the side of the Mandalay-Naypyidaw highway and 42 passengers quickly exited as billowing smoke and flame engulfed the bus.
Luckily, no one was injured in the dramatic event, which was live-streamed by a monk who was on the scene. It’s unclear whether he was a passenger or just simply passing by.
In the video, which has already been viewed more than 200,000 times and shared 10,000, multiple people can be seen trying to douse the flames with buckets of water, while others desperately attempt to salvage their belongings.
“It’s too much, we can’t anymore. The bus is on fire, we should get away,” Nyaungyan Sayartaw, the monk who took the video can be heard saying at one point.
According to the Highway Police, the fire was eventually extinguished at roughly the 30-minute mark when police and firefighters from nearby Sagar Inn township arrived.
Attempts to contact Shwe La Min, the bus company, were unsuccessful.
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