DAVIE, Fla. – New details were released Tuesday after a tour bus fire caused major delays on a South Florida freeway Friday afternoon.
It happened around 2:30 p.m. at the westbound lanes of Interstate 595 near the Nob Hill Road exit where the bus caught fire.
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All westbound lanes of the highway were closed around 3 p.m. as firefighters worked to extinguish the fire.
At one point, the double-decker tour bus from Miami Tours, a company out of Miami Beach, was seen completely engulfed in flames.
Police said 38 passengers were able to evacuate the bus. They waited under tents on the side of the highway for several hours until another bus could come and pick them up.
According to an incident report released by the Florida Highway Patrol Tuesday, shortly after their troopers responded to the fire, they spoke with the driver, who was identified as 54-year-old Derek Ryan Sanberg.
Sanberg recounted traveling westbound on Interstate 595 near University Drive when a driver alerted him to the fire.
Authorities confirmed Sanberg safely evacuated all of his passengers before the bus erupted in flames and had the proper license to transport them.
Sanberg told authorities that some passengers departed the scene and didn’t return, leaving 38 passengers and himself at the scene.
Davie’s fire chief told FHP that the fire originated in the engine at the rear of the bus, attributing the incident to a mechanical issue, the report stated.
Additionally, the chief noted that a Fort Lauderdale police officer cleared the bus after all occupants had evacuated.
The bus was later towed away from the scene as traffic cleared.