Bus razed by fire while at Cotabato-Davao Highway

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — An air-conditioned bus was razed by fire triggered by a loose circuit of its 24-volt direct current battery charging system while in Pigcawayan town in Cotabato province on Saturday morning.

In an initial report released an hour after the incident, Major Andres Sumugat, chief of the Pigcawayan municipal police, said the burnt unit of the Mindanao Star Bus was bound for Davao City when it caught fire while passing through a stretch of the Cotabato-Davao Highway in Purok Masagana in Barangay South Manuangan.

Sumugat said all passengers of the ill-fated bus, about 30 of them, managed to immediately disembark before the fire had spread from its rear, where its engine is located, to its front.

The management of the Mindanao Star Bus immediately provided the affected bus passengers with another unit that transported them from Pigcawayan to Davao City.