Fifty-two people were killed yesterday when the Russia-bound bus they were travelling on caught fire in Kazakhstan, the central Asian nation’s emergency services ministry said, reports AFP from Astana, Kazakhstan. “On January 18 at 10:30 am (0430 GMT), a bus caught fire ... 55 passengers and two drivers were on board. Five people who managed to escape are receiving medical assistance. The rest died on the spot,” the ministry said, without elaborating on the cause of the blaze.

All those who died are believed to be Uzbek nationals, an interior ministry official told Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency. Kazakh media reported they were migrant workers travelling to Russia. Uzbekistan’s emergency services ministry said it had opened a hotline.

The vehicle was registered in Kazakhstan, emergency services ministry official Ruslan Imankulov told AFP. He said the fire spread very quickly.