FRIBOURG: An inferno on a Swiss bus that killed six people was seemingly started by a “disturbed” man on board who set himself alight, the investigating prosecutor said on Wednesday.

The blaze happened on Tuesday evening in the small town of Kerzers, around 20 kilometres west of the capital Bern. Videos shared on social media showed flames several metres high bursting out of the windows, and black smoke rising into the sky.

“A witness statement indicated that a man... of Swiss origin boarded the bus carrying bags. At some point, he doused himself with a flammable substance and set himself alight,” Fribourg canton’s public prosecutor Raphael Bourquin told a press conference.

He said the family of the man, who was from Bern canton and in his sixties, had recently “reported his disappearance”, and “current evidence describes him as a marginalised and disturbed individual”.

“There is absolutely no evidence to suggest that this could be a terrorist act,” he said, adding that “it appears that this person is among the deceased”. Fribourg police chief Philippe Allain said detectives were trying to work out who got on and off the bus along its route from the nearby town of Dudingen, to pinpoint how many people were on board at the time. The potential victims were born between 1961 and 2009, he said.

Besides those killed, the fire injured five people. Three people were taken to hospital; two are in a serious condition and the other has since returned home. Two other people were treated at the scene by emergency responders.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2026