Nine people were on Swiss bus when man set himself on fire
When a fire was set on a Swiss PostBus last Tuesday, there were nine people on board: the driver and eight passengers, including the man who triggered the fire.
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The Fribourg cantonal police announced this on Monday, adding that six people were confirmed dead and three managed to leave the vehicle with injuries. The doors opened properly once the bus came to a halt in Kerzers shortly before 6:30pm.
Among the injured passengers “a 56-year-old woman is still in a critical state”, the police said in a statement. In addition, two other people who weren’t passengers suffered minor injuries trying to rescue the victims.
Technical findings indicate that the bus was equipped with two passenger doors. ‘These opened normally when the vehicle stopped. Since the fire broke out when the bus was moving, opening them could take place only after the bus had come to a complete stop,” the police pointed out.
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As already confirmed in a previous statement, the alleged perpetrator is among the deceased. He is a 65-year-old man of Swiss origin and no other nationality.
The elements gathered by investigators show that the man acted alone. At this stage, the reasons that prompted him to carry out this act with fatal consequences for several people, at the same time ending his own life, remain unknown. However, the hypothesis of a murder-suicide is currently the favoured one.
The man was known to the Authority for the Protection of Minors and Adults of canton Bern, where he was under administrative guardianship.
There was no indication that he represented a danger to himself or others. He was, however, known to the police services for violations of the Federal Narcotics Act.
According to the police, more than 150 people have so far received psychological support from the care team, a service that remains available by telephone for the families of the victims and all those affected by the event. The hotline that had been set up on the evening of the fire has been deactivated.
Adapted from Italian by AI/ts
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