TAIPEI, Taiwan — A tour bus carrying visitors from China burst into flames on a highway near Taiwan’s capital on Tuesday, killing all 26 people on board, officials said, in the deadliest incident involving Chinese tourism to the island.
The accident took place on the No. 2 national highway in Taoyuan county, south of Taipei, where Taiwan’s international airport is located, the county’s fire and rescue service said in a statement.
It said 24 of those on board were visitors from northeast China’s Liaoning province who had been scheduled to fly home on Tuesday afternoon. The others killed were the driver and a tour guide, both Taiwanese.
Taoyuan fire chief Lai Chi-chong said all of the victims died inside the bus. “There was not enough time for them to escape,” he told reporters.
Video from the scene showed the bus’s doors pressed up against the highway’s guard rail, making them impossible to open. Photos showed thick black smoke pouring from the bus.
Many of the bodies were badly charred, some of them piled in front of the unopened emergency exit, Taiwan’s official Central News Agency reported.
There was no official word on the cause of the fire, although CNA said that the bus apparently burst into flames after spinning out of control and smashing into the guard rail.
CNA cited eyewitnesses as saying the bus had been giving off smoke and swerving prior to crashing and bursting into flames.
The other drivers stopped and attempted to put out the flames with fire extinguishers, the news agency said.
The accident was the deadliest involving Chinese visitors since the island opened up to Chinese tourism in 2008, according to Taiwanese government records.
