A Greyhound bus caught fire on I-95 in Baltimore County, Maryland, on Tuesday morning, according to reports.
Brian McCoy, a passenger on the bus traveling from New York to Washington, DC, said at one point during the trip, he noticed that the inside of the vehicle looked “foggy.”
“This was probably two hours into the trip, and people are looking around, and it’s kind of foggy inside,” he recalled. “But I didn’t think there was any fire. I thought it was like a radiator problem that buses have.”
He said the bus was still moving when it went up in flames. “Everybody is like get off the bus, get off the bus,” McCoy said. “I was seated in front, so I can’t hold up the line, so I just grabbed my bags and left the bus without my phone, my debit cards and just with one shoe.”
Reports said the fire occurred at 5 a.m., and authorities confirmed that all 32 of the passengers were able to escape to safety.
“I could’ve lost my life that day, so really thinking back to being grateful for your life and live it to the fullest,” McCoy commented. “I think everybody should have something like that.”
In June 2018, a similar instance occurred when another Greyhound bus caught fire at 5:15 a.m. along a turnpike in New Jersey.
Reports said the driver told passengers to “Leave everything and get off the bus!” as the danger increased. Passengers said that the fire started in the back end of the vehicle.
“I just heard somebody scream, ‘Flames!’ And everybody started screaming,” said Karlissa Jackson, a passenger from Boston, Massachusetts.
“People were trampling over each other, people were climbing over the seats,” she recalled.
Passenger Glendora Riley said she heard popping sounds and thought someone was shooting a gun in the back of the vehicle.
“I thought somebody flipped and started shooting in the back. And I thought my god there’s children in the back,” she recalled.
Reports said that once everyone had exited the bus, a replacement was dispatched and arrived four hours later at 9:30 a.m.