GILMAN, Illinois – High school students narrowly escaped when their charter bus caught fire on a trip from Champaign to Chicago.
The Peoria Charter Coach bus was northbound on Interstate 57 when the engine caught fire, about 50 miles into the trip, according to a report from the central Illinois News-Gazette.
The bus was carrying Spanish Club students from Central High School in Champaign.
One student tweeted they got off the bus about a minute before the fire quickly spread. Photos showed the entire bus was damaged.
We evacuated this bus about a minute before this…. https://t.co/fa3bCKt8kQ—
Ben Jefferson (@BJefferson18) April 28, 2016
The exact cause of the fire was not yet known.
Peoria Charter Coach Company manager Jake Winkler issued a statement later that day, and said this:
“We are saddened that this occurred, but very thankful that our safety protocols were properly followed by our Professional Driver to ensure the safety of all passengers on board. There were no injuries. After all passengers were unloaded safely, a new bus departed immediately from our Urbana, IL location to pick up the students and allow them to continue to their destination with as little of a delay as possible. This type of incident may be rare, but we put in hours of training with each driver to ensure that our most important goal is achieved, passenger safety.
The report that students “narrowly escaped” is inaccurate. While traveling on Interstate 57, Peoria Charter’s Professional Driver noticed a low pressure light on his dashboard. As trained, the driver pulled over at the first exit for an inspection. Upon stopping the charter bus, our driver noticed that smoke was coming from the rear engine compartment. The driver immediately evacuated all of the passengers well before the damage was spread to the interior of the bus.”
A replacement bus was reportedly sent to take the students to their destination in Chicago.
No injuries were reported.
