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Fireball erupts as M3 coach burns (From This is Hampshire)
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Fireball erupts as M3 coach burns
12:18pm Tuesday 29th July 2008
A HAMPSHIRE firefighter was left with burns to his face and hands after being caught in a fireball which exploded from a burning coach.
The fireman was helping to tackle a blaze that had broken out in a coach travelling along the M27 west link road from the M3 when he was caught in the explosion.
The 32-seater coach's fuel tank ruptured, igniting the diesel inside it and sending a fireball out from under it.
The firefighter, from Eastleigh fire station, was caught in the conflagration, which caused motorists to run from their cars.
The injured man was taken to Southampton General Hospital where he was treated for burns, but was later discharged.
He was the only person hurt in the fire, which broke out shortly before 3.15pm and destroyed the coach. The plume of smoke was seen from several miles away and engulfed both carriageways of the motorway.
At one point it was feared a passenger may have been trapped in the coach's toilet but after searching the vehicle all passengers and the driver were accounted for.
Thousands of motorists were caught in long tailbacks after police were forced to close both carriageways of the M3 between junctions 13 and 14 near Eastleigh as well as the M27 west link road. Traffic backed up around 20 miles along the motorway as far as Basingstoke, and tailbacks lasted several hours.
One motorist said: "It was like an inferno. The fire had completely gutted the coach.
You could really feel the heat, so much so that I had to check my car for damage."
Fire crews from Eastleigh and Redbridge fire stations were called to the scene after a motorway camera spotted the coach in trouble.
Four pumps and a water carrier were used to fight the fire, as well as a multi-role vehicle carrying foam.
The coach was moved to the hard shoulder of the motorway and police reopened the northbound carriageway of the M3 shortly before 6pm.
Two lanes of the southbound carriageway remained shut between junctions 14 and 11 as investigations continued.
The cause of the fire was last night unknown, and a joint investigation by fire and police services has been launched.
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