About 20 passengers aboard a passenger bus in the southwestern Chinese city of Zunyi have escaped injury after their bus caught fire on Saturday, a report said.

The fire broke out shortly before 10 AM as the bus traveled along a street in Zunyi City, Guizhou Province, the Guizhou Commercial News reported.

A bus company employee tried using a fire extinguisher but had no success, and an explosion inside the bus caused the flames to spread, the report said.

A local fire brigade soon arrived and took around one hour to extinguish the blaze.

The cause of the fire is not known.

(CRIENGLISH.com July 9, 2007)