German Bus Catches Fire in Tunnel

A German coach with 58 passengers on board caught fire Sunday in a Swiss tunnel, shutting down the passage for two hours, but causing no injuries, local police said. The driver stopped the coach about one kilometer (half a mile) into the northern entrance of the Belchen tunnel close to the border with Germany allowing the passengers travelling to a French ski resort to escape to safety. The two drivers then began putting out the fire in the engine with hand-held extinguishers as they waited for firemen to arrive. The cause of the fire was not known, but was probably due to a technical fault. Another coach was found to ferry the passengers to their destination, but the accident caused long tailbacks in northern Sissach among drivers returning from their Christmas and New Year holidays.