THREE people died and 12 were injured when a bus caught fire in Shanghai yesterday, said police.

The fire broke out when the bus was traveling along Huangxing Road in Yangpu District, in the Northeast of Shanghai.

The cause of the bus fire was flammable material being carried on the bus by a passenger, police said yesterday.

The case is being investigated further, the police said.

The fire was put out in half an hour. Fire fighters estimated there were about 50 passengers on board the route 842 bus.

A witness said that passengers on the air-conditioned vehicle were unable to open the windows to escape. The only way out of the bus was through the door.

The injured were taken to hospital where five people were in serious conditions, including one with burns to 90 percent of the body, a doctor at Shanghai Hospital said. The hospital had been closed and further interviews were refused.

Normal traffic around the accident site resumed at around 10:30 a.m., after police removed the wreckage.

(Xinhua)