Police briefly sealed off part of central London on Tuesday after smoke was seen billowing from a double-decker bus, but lifted the alert after nothing alarming was found, a spokesperson said.
The incident, the exact cause of which was not immediate clear, reflected jitters in the British capital since July 7 bombings that left 56 dead, followed by failed copycat attacks two weeks later.
”The incident has just been stood down,” said a police spokesperson after the alarm centred on a bus near King’s Cross station, one of the venues of the deadly suicide bombings last month.
A reporter for news agency AFP who was able to walk up to the bus said no signs of fire were visible, but that the access cover to the rear-mounted engine was open.
Objects left behind by passengers as they rushed to get off could be seen through the bus windows, including a laptop computer and a pair of women’s shoes.
A spokesperson for the London Fire Brigade said there had been a ”small fire” on board the bus, while a police source said there had been no explosions.
A spokesperson for Transport for London, which oversees the British capital’s underground and bus network, said the incident occurred on a number-205 double-decker bus, which runs between Paddington and Whitechapel.
Another police source said detectives were investigating the cause of a fire on a bus.
”There have been no bangs. We’re investigating what it is,” the source said.
London has been on high alert since July 7 attacks, which killed 56 people on London Underground trains and a double-decker bus.
Those were followed by a failed string of bombings on July 21, also on subway trains and a bus.
Fires aboard London buses, while very rare, are not unheard of.
Last month, a double-decker bus that suffered an engine fire was seen in south London, while brand-new ”bendy buses” have undergone modifications following fires on three of the articulating vehicles that caused no injuries. — Sapa-AFP