TOKYO, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- Two people have been confirmed dead and seven others injured after a bus overturned and caught fire on an expressway in Nagoya, central Japan, on Monday, local media reported.
Local police officials believed the bus hit a concrete divider at around 10:15 a.m. local time near the Toyoyama-Minami interchange on the Nagoya Expressway.
Another vehicle was also involved in the collision, local media reported.
The bus was en route from Nagoya Station to Nagoya airport when the crash occurred, according to local accounts.
One of the dead is thought to be the bus driver, as its operator has been unable to make contact following being informed of the crash.
The seven people hurt in the accident were all said to have not sustained life threatening injures, according to local police.
Along with police investigations into the cause of the accident, the transport ministry's local bureau in Nagoya said it will carry out an investigation into the bus operator.
Televised images caught on camera by witnesses in cars passing the crash site showed the entire overturned bus ablaze, with thick black smoke billowing from the inferno.
One eyewitness said she heard a loud explosion coming from the bus as she passed the burning vehicle from the opposite lane of the expressway.
Another said the heat from the fire was so intense it could be felt inside his car, even with the windows up. ■