Explosion and burning ambulance car in Budapest

The engine compartment of the ambulance car got on fire, then the flames expanded to the whole vehicle. The fire was extinguished by two water-jets of the firemen of Budapest, writes Origo.

According to witnesses, a smaller, then a larger explosion could be heard in Buda, at Attila Street-Krisztina Boulevard, near the Elizabeth Bridge.

One of the emergency medical cars of the National Ambulance Service exploded and got on fire; according to unconfirmed information, the detonation was caused by oxygen and anaesthetic gas bottles kept in the car, but the fire clearly went towards the engine compartment. Nobody was in the car during the fire.

The explosion was heard in Pest, too, the smoke coming from the car could clearly be seen from there. The burning ambulance car was extinguished by two water-jets, then it was cooled down – said the National Directorate General for Disaster Management.

It got on fire underway

Origo wanted to find out the cause of the fire, and also if there were any injuries, and how great the damage was. Pál Győrfi, communication manager of National Ambulance Service (OMSZ) answered: as he already told before, one of the cars of a Pest county ambulance station got on fire,

the ambulance unit realized that the smoke is coming from the engine compartment, underway.

They stopped immediately and left the vehicle. Then the fire expanded to the whole car in minutes. According to Győrfi, it caused a damage of millions of HUF, but the ambulance station got a spare car in a short time.

The leading spokesman did not know anything about whether it was the oxygen or the gas bottle that caused the fire. He said that the experts are still investigating.

OMSZ shared a video about the burnt vehicle on their Facebook page.

The light was flashing

According to the information of Origo, the vehicle travelled more than 400,000 kilometres and the check-engine sign on the panel was flashing hours before the fire. The car was taken to the service, but no error was found, so the car got back into work.

Copy editor: bm

Source: Origo