MIAMI (WSVN) - A bus taking nearly 60 passengers to PortMiami caught fire along Interstate 95, Saturday afternoon.
According to City of Miami Fire Rescue, passengers began smelling smoke while the bus was traveling southbound on the highway. The driver was forced to pull over just south of the Northwest 62nd Street on-ramp.
Officials said the flames quickly spread once the bus pulled over, filling the interior with smoke.
Cellphone video captured the bus engulfed in flames as black smoke billowed into the sky.
The bus driver described the chaotic moments to 7News. “A few minutes later it started smoking real bad, so then the passengers noticed the fire,” he said. “At that point, I opened up all the emergency windows, and we managed to get all the luggage and passengers out safely. That’s a blessing.”
Crews arrived at the scene just after 1:30 p.m. to find passengers grabbing their luggage and evacuating the vehicle.
Firefighters entered the bus and quickly extinguished the flames.
The incident caused several southbound lanes of I-95 to be shut down, causing traffic backups for hours.
Crews evaluated two passengers, one for smoke inhalation and another for scratches while trying to exit the bus. No one was transported.
All passengers were later placed on another bus to PortMiami.
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