A 30-seater Toyota Coaster omnibus was yesterday gutted by fire at Kigali Business Centre (KBC) roundabout in Kacyiru, Gasabo District.

The omnibus was headed to Nyabugogo Bus Park from Kimironko with passengers.

However, none of the passengers was injured in the incident, Police said.

The cause of the mysterious fire accident was unknown by press time but Augustin Nzibaranga, the driver, suspects it could have been caused by electrical wiring faults from within the engine system.

"I just saw smoke billowing from the engine, I stopped the car and told the passengers to evacuate. Seconds later, the fire broke out and engulfed the entire bus.”

Police Fire Brigade firefighter trucks got to the scene a few minutes after the fire outbreak and put out the fire but not before it had left only charred frames of what was the omnibus.

The lunchtime incident disrupted traffic on the busy Kigali International Airport Road for nearly two hours.Police said they will investigate the cause of the fire accident.

"The bus was in good shape; it had insurance cover and had recently undergone traffic technical controls inspection. Let us wait for what the Police will discover in their investigations,” Gratien Rwigimba, the director of transport at the Rwanda Federation of Transport Cooperative (RFTC), said.

However, the owner of omnibus, registration number RAB 213R, which was operating under RFTC, is likely to get little or no insurance compensation, having acquired the third-party vehicle insurance, according to Deo-Maxime Ndamukunda, a claims investigator at insurance firm, Sonarwa.

"Had the owner been covered under comprehensive insurance contract, he would get compensated. But now it might be impossible for him to get compensated for the damages caused by the fire, fact being that his insurance contract only covers the third-party who would be involved in the accident,” Ndamukunda told The New Times at the scene in KBC.

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