Inquiry suggests Marsa bendy bus fire caused by electrical fault in battery

A magisterial inquiry carried on a bendy bus which caught fire in August suggests that the cause of the fire was an electrical fault in the vehicle's batteries and not arson.

Although a separate report compiled by Transport Malta had reportedly claimed that arson or sabotage could not be excluded, the magisterial inquiry on the bendy bus which caught fire in front of the Maltapost offices says the highest probability confirmed otherwise.

The Marsa bendy bus fire had not been an isolated case, prompting the Transport Minister to order the removal of the Mercedes bendy buses off the roads. When the Minister appeared on TV in December saying the magisterial inquiry had ruled out arson, Arriva reacted saying that a TM fire investigators report said "the possibility of intentional arson cannot be ruled out".

The bendy buses were subsequently banned from Maltese roads, set to never return. Now that the public transport service has been temporarily taken over by a state-owned company, parts of the magisterial inquiry have been made public.

Having ruled out arson, the inquiry investigated the possibility of a technical fault, caused either by leakage of fuel or oil or an electrical fault.

The investigation took into consideration that when the empty bus had arrived to Marsa from Bormla, it had been parked for two hours giving it ample time to cool down. Its stop in front of the Maltapost HQ was the second one due to a fault.

While the fire was reported at around 12:45am, the bus broke down in front of the Maltapost HQ 45 minutes before. According to the inquiry, this difference in time meant that engine oil and hydraulic oil had cooled down while diesel was not circulating under the pressure of the pump. The good condition in which these parts of the bus were found confirmed that such a technical fault had not been the cause.

The second possibility investigated was that an electrical shortage in the batteries caused the fire, although it is very rare that evidence of shortage of wires is found due to the extreme damage such a fire causes. Evidence is "obliterated" in such a fierce fire.

However, the inquiry did observe damage on one of the batteries' terminals, damage which indicated that there had been an electrical shortage. It was also noted that the mechanics, before the fire broke out, could not restart the bus suggesting a serious breakdown in the electronic system of the vehicle.