People pay their respect in front of candles and flowers in Kerzers, western Switzerland after six people were killed in a bus fire which was seemingly started by a disturbed man on board who set himself alight. Photo / Fabrice Coffrini, AFP
People pay their respect in front of candles and flowers in Kerzers, western Switzerland after six people were killed in a bus fire which was seemingly started by a disturbed man on board who set himself alight. Photo / Fabrice Coffrini, AFP
An inferno on a Swiss bus that killed six people was seemingly started by a “disturbed” man on board who set himself alight, the investigating prosecutor says.
The blaze happened on Tuesday evening in the small town of Kerzers, around 20km west of the capital, Bern.
Videos shared on socialmedia showed flames several metres high bursting out of the windows, and black smoke rising into the sky.
The suspect “got on with his two bags and at some point stood up, doused himself with petrol, and set himself on fire”, Fribourg canton’s public prosecutor Raphael Bourquin told reporters.
The man is someone “who seems to be quite marginalised, someone potentially psychologically disturbed, who is known to the medical community and who has apparently had some problems recently”, Bourquin said.
“There is absolutely no evidence to suggest that this could be a terrorist act.”
The man, who lived in the neighbouring Bern canton, had recently been in hospital with a physical ailment but had been missing for a day or two, with his family notifying the police of his disappearance, said the prosecutor.
Fribourg police chief Philippe Allain said detectives were trying to pinpoint how many people were on the local bus at the time.
Witnesses reported some people escaping from the bus who were “engulfed in flames”, he told AFP.
“The speed at which the fire spread was quite astonishing,” he said.
That the suspect set himself on fire is the “leading hypothesis, based on witness statements, initial video analysis, and the sequence of events”, he said.
“We’re now going to work on profiling the suspected perpetrator and determine his motives by analysing what we can find at his home and on his mobile phone.”
Extremely sad times
Before dawn on Wednesday, the charred shell of the bus had been removed, leaving a few traces of melted tar on the road and a faint smell of burning in the air.
The bushes and street signs beside the road were scorched.
Firefighters lay flowers to pay their respect during a memorial ceremony in Kerzers, western Switzerland. Photo / Fabrice Coffrini, AFP
During the day, several people came to lay flowers at the scene of the tragedy.
It is the second major multiple-casualty fire in Switzerland in less than three months.
In the early hours of January 1, a bar in the ski resort of Crans-Montana caught fire as people celebrated the New Year. A total of 41 people died, with another 115 injured.
Swiss President Guy Parmelin visited the scene in Kerzers on Wednesday and laid flowers during a ceremony.
Around 300 people were present, including emergency service workers called into action the night before.
“Once again, we are going through extremely sad times,” Parmelin said.
“It is in moments like these that the words solidarity and humanity take on their full meaning.”
