A fire broke out Thursday morning in a shuttle used for school transport on the road linking Bouchamma to the south of Gabès. No injuries were reported as the vehicle was empty at the time of the incident. The incident, however, raises questions about the state of the regional transport fleet.
A column of smoke was seen around 7:30 a.m. on the axis linking Bouchamma to the town of Gabès. A shuttle usually intended for transporting students was ravaged by flames, in circumstances still undetermined.
Alerted, a Civil Protection unit intervened quickly to control the fire and prevent it from spreading to neighboring areas. The fire was contained without major difficulty, but the shuttle was almost completely destroyed.
No injuries
According to local authorities, the vehicle was not carrying any schoolchildren at the time of the incident. A relief, as this line is used daily by dozens of students going to class.
Traffic on the road was briefly disrupted during the emergency response.
A bus in circulation for almost 25 years
Contacted by Mosaique FM, a source from the Gabès Regional Transport Company confirmed that the vehicle had been in operation for almost a quarter of a century.
This longevity revives the debate on the obsolescence of buses assigned to inland regions, often operated beyond their optimal lifespan.
Precedents elsewhere in Tunisia
This is not the first time that a school vehicle has caught fire.
In January 2019, a school bus caught fire in the South Siliana delegation due to an electrical fault. Again, no injuries were recorded, but the incident had already raised awareness about the state of rolling stock in rural and semi-rural areas.
While the exact causes of the fire remain to be determined, the hypothesis of a mechanical failure linked to the age of the vehicle cannot be ruled out.
