New York Times Reporter Live-Tweets Megabus Explosion

A run-of-the-mill bus journey turned into a harrowing ordeal for a travel reporter and his fellow passengers on Sunday when the Megabus they’d been riding on suddenly exploded on the side of a Chicago-area road.

Lucas Peterson, a writer for The New York Times’ Frugal Traveler blog, was traveling from Chicago to Minneapolis when the drama unfolded. Live-tweeting the whole experience, he wrote that the trouble began about an hour into the trip when the driver announced to passengers that they would be “turning around to ‘switch buses.’”

A short time later, the bus got a flat tire. The situation worsened from there:

According to Peterson, the passengers filed out of the bus after smoke began filling the vehicle.

A small fire had apparently erupted over one wheel, then grew until the entire bus went “up in flames,” accompanied by a “series of loud booms,” he stated.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported that there were about 40 passengers on the bus, and no one was hurt in the incident.

Many passengers, however, lost their luggage, most of which was reportedly destroyed in the fire. Peterson said that several passengers were very distressed by the loss of their possessions, particularly after learning about Megabus’ liability policy. According to the company’s website, it only covers damages up to $250. 

In a statement, Megabus said that it was “fully cooperating with the authorities with their investigation” into the fire, the cause of which was still unknown.

The passengers were eventually ushered onto another Megabus which transported them -- without incident -- to Milwaukee, Peterson said.