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The remains of the exploding biogas bus. Photo provided by the owner, Vikbolands Taxi
25 May 2023

Biogas bus exploded in southern Sweden: "It looks like it has been through a war"

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"I have never seen anything like it...  It looks like it has been through a war!"

During Monday afternoon May 22, a small bus that runs on biogas exploded in the city of Västervik in the south of Sweden.

No persons were injured in the incident. The reasons for the explosion are currently unknown. 

"There is damage to the body, all the windows are blown out and there are large holes, like bullet holes, that have shot through nearby cars. It looks like it has been through a war", says Nicklas Aronsson, CEO of Vikboland Taxi, which owns the bus fleet, to Swedish Radio (SR.se).

Nicklas Aronsson is not worried about re-occurring incidents with his biogas fleet per se, but he would like to know what has happened, and why.

"Obviously, something has happened which really shouldn´t have happened", he says. 

According to several Swedish media outlets, two explosions occurred in the vehicle, while it was located at an industrial site in the outskirts of the city.

When the fire services came to the site, there was risk of more explosions, and nearby residents and businesses were told to shelter in place.

"This bus has several gas tubes which may blow up", said Evelina Olsson, press officer at Region South Police to Swedish Television on Monday. 

Later the same evening, military units came to help remove the gas tubes. According to local media, a robot were to cut open to tanks in order to relieve the pressure in the tanks.

The vehicle was under observation until the next day. 

During Tuesday, the four other biogas vehicles within the company were inspected for technical faults. None of the other vehicles had any technical issues or showed anything out of the ordinary.

"We do not know what has happened, but there is no suspicion of any criminal activity. We are treating this as a fire service incident", said Evelina Olsson at Region South Police.