Fribourg canton’s public prosecutor Raphael Bourquin stated the person allegedly liable for the fireplace probably died.
Revealed On 11 Mar 2026
A minimum of six individuals have died after a bus hearth that authorities say might have been attributable to a person who set himself on hearth in a small Swiss city.
The incident, which additionally injured 5 individuals, passed off on Tuesday close to the centre of Kerzers, a city within the western canton of Fribourg, about 12 miles (20km) from the capital Bern, police stated.
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In keeping with Fribourg canton’s public prosecutor Raphael Bourquin, the person allegedly liable for the fireplace was probably amongst those that died .
“A witness assertion indicated {that a} man … of Swiss origin boarded the bus carrying luggage. Sooner or later, he doused himself with a flammable substance and set himself alight,” Bourquin advised a information convention on Wednesday.
“There’s completely no proof to recommend that this could possibly be a terrorist act,” he stated, including that the household of the person, who was from Bern canton and in his sixties, had lately “reported his disappearance”, and “present proof describes him as a marginalised and disturbed particular person”.
In keeping with Swiss authorities, the victims of the blaze had been aged between 17 and 65.
In a press release, the cantonal police stated three of the injured had been taken to hospitals whereas two had been handled on the scene. Two of these admitted to hospital remained within the hospital on Wednesday, whereas one was discharged on Tuesday.
In keeping with the primary findings of the police investigation, the assertion stated, an individual boarded the bus within the close by city of Duedingen at round 5.45 pm CET (16:45 GMT) and later set himself on hearth in Kerzers at about 6.25 pm native time, inflicting the blaze to unfold all through the automobile.
Police stated preliminary hearings and witness testimony point out that the incident was “a voluntary act with out ideological motivation.”
Swiss President Man Parmelin wrote on X on Tuesday evening that the fireplace “distresses and saddens” him.
“The circumstances are being investigated. To the relations of the deceased from Kerzers, I lengthen my condolences. And I consider the injured and the rescue employees,” he stated.
Zeynel Teke, 61, who was working at his meals stall reverse the bus when it was engulfed in flames, stated that whereas he went to get his hearth extinguisher to place out the flames, it was too sizzling to get shut sufficient.
“It’s so unhappy to see individuals burning in entrance of your eyes. It could possibly be my little one, it could possibly be yours,” he advised the Reuters information company.
Officers defined that investigators had been reviewing social media footage and CCTV to grasp the motives behind the person’s actions, and that interviews had been anticipated to happen.
A hotline has additionally been opened for witnesses to come back ahead, and Fribourg police stated that public prosecutors had opened a legal investigation.
The incident is the second time this 12 months {that a} hearth has killed many individuals, after a blaze in a bar within the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana killed 41 people and injured 115 others in January.
