World Bulletin / News Desk

At least 52 people were killed in a bus fire in northwestern Kazakhstan, the country’s Interior Ministry said on Thursday.

“There were 55 passengers and two drivers on the bus," in the Aktobe region, Ruslan Imankulov, the ministry’s Emergency Situations Committee representative, told reporters.

"Five passengers managed to escape with injuries.”

He added that the reason for the fire was unknown.

Local media reported that all the passengers on the bus were nationals of Uzbekistan.