The Minister for Works Transport and Public Utilities has revealed that the bus carrying 54 people headed for a funeral in Nadi had caught fire with the driver unable to stop the vehicle as the brakes had failed.

Timoci Natuva in a press release stated that officials from his ministry were this morning at the site of the accident carrying out their own preliminary investigations.

Issues of contention highlighted in the report included fire safety capacity in the bus, emergency escape route, the possibility it was carrying flammable liquids like kerosene, the safety of the bus to carry passengers, the number of passengers and driver competency to deal with the situation.

As a result he has ordered the Land Transport Authority to change their regulation of reviewing buses yearly and has instead asked them to change the system to have the review every 6 months to ensure public safety is secured and protected.