A bus of Green Line Paribahan was burnt to ashes after it had caught fire following a collision with a covered-van on Dhaka-Chattogram highway in Cumilla early yesterday.

The incident happened at Jhagurjhuli in Sadar upazila around 2:20am when the covered-van hit the rear side of the air conditioned bus from behind, Mainamati Highway Police Station Officer-in-Charge Safayet Hossain told The Daily Star.

The collision caused an explosion and fire in the engine while the bus was going towards Chattogram from Dhaka, said the OC.

However, no casualty was reported as all the passengers managed to immediately get off the vehicle, said the police officer.

The number of passengers and whether they were able to take their luggage could not be known immediately.

Fire service doused the blaze, which also spread to the covered van to some extent, in half an hour, said officials.

Ali Azam, senior station officer at Cumilla fire service, said, "Two firefighting units worked to control the blaze."

A witness named Sajol said the fire fighters and highway police removed the wreckage from the road and communication became normal after half an hour.#