1 Sep 2008

Police in Fiji remain unsure of cause of bus fire which claimed ten lives

3:44 pm on 1 September 2008

Fiji police say investigations are continuing into the bus fire that killed ten people last Friday.

The accident happened when a bus, hired to transport an extended family of about 40 people to a funeral, caught fire near the town of Sigatoka.

Among the dead were a pregnant woman and four children.

A spokesperson, Ema Mua, says it's still unclear what caused the tragedy, but police are doing their best to find out what happened.

"We've got two Australian federal forensic officers that are here in the group that is investigating the accident. As of now the bus driver has been interviewed and released and there have been 34 statements of witnesses being recorded so far. All the post mortems have been completed."

Ema Mua says police believe there's a need for tougher public transport safety measures to prevent such incidents in future.