TRAGIC: Nearly 40 people died when a fire broke out in this bus in Xiamen in southeast China.

TRAGIC: Nearly 40 people died when a fire broke out in this bus in Xiamen in southeast China.

The bus was completely burnt in the fire, which began around 18:30 pm local time on Friday in the middle of a road in the middle of rush hour traffic, reports the AP.

A local firefighter said that there were many bodies in a big pile in the bus when firefighters arrived. The cause of the fire started is now being investigated.

All bus service to the company Bus Rapid Transit has been set.

One of the survivors of the bus fire tells China's state news agency Xinhua that smelled gasoline in the bus just before the fire broke out. Several injured was bleeding and with torn clothes as they crawled out of the bus.

In social media, there are pictures showing thick black smoke rising from the burning bus.

Website Xiamen Net writes that witnesses to the incident heard explosions as recently as ten minutes after the bus had started to burn.