Pafos Live 23 September 2025
A bus of the Paphos transport organization that runs student routes was engulfed in flames shortly before seven in the morning in the area of Chloraka. The driver was going to pick up students from Chloraka in order to take them to the regional high school of Emba and to the high school and TESEK of Agios Charalambous Emba.
Before students could board and while the driver was at traffic lights on the central Makarios Avenue, he noticed smoke in the engine area. He parked the vehicle outside the main artery and tried to extinguish the fire himself, which was finally extinguished by the fire service. The vehicle was extensively damaged.
The Minister of Transport, Alexis Vafeadis, expressed concern about the incident with the bus in Chloraka.
Speaking to RIK, he said that he is particularly concerned about the incident, while noting that for his part, experts from the department of electromechanical services will be asked to go to the scene to examine the bus and determine the causes that caused the fire.
Also, Mr. Vafeadis explained that the student buses were all checked and are suitable to run the routes, while he explained that they also have a fire system.
The bus that caught fire had been bought new by the company in 2010 and had passed a technical inspection last August, according to the director of the Paphos transport organization, Andreas Rodosthenous. Mr. Rodosthenous stated that the vehicle has an automatic fire extinguishing system which, although it worked, it was not possible to extinguish the fire.
Answering a question about the automatic fire extinguishing system, he said that it depends on where the fire occurs and how extensive the fire is.
From the first indications, according to Mr. Rodosthenous, the fire may have started from the overheating caused by the blocking of one of the rear wheels.
