US bus fire kills 20 hurricane evacuees

A fire burst out in a bus carrying elders fleeing Hurricane Rita killed 20 aboard early Friday on a highway near the southern US city of Dallas, Texas, police said.

According to reports of the US TV network CNN, there were 45 people on the bus and the number of the injured was still unknown.

The accident caused traffic jam expanding some 30 km on the Interstate 45 highway as tens of thousands of people were on their way toward north to flee the upcoming hurricane.

There are indications that oxygen equipment used by elderly evacuees on the bus may be the cause of the fire.

Source: Xinhua