A fire broke out beneath an Arriva bus on Sunday evening after the vehicle developed a fuel leak.

“The… [diesel] slipped out on the road and flames under the back of the bus were burning on the road,” according to a witness.

Gunilla Bermhus said the bus stopped at the Mater Dei 1 bus stop at about 6.15pm when passengers noticed there was smoke.

Arriva staff “from all buses around and an unknown civil heroine” got passengers out of the vehicle.

“Good cooperation of all involved solved it, with several fire extinguishers used in a few minutes,” she said.

An Arriva spokesman confirmed the fire was from a diesel leak.

“The driver was alerted to smoke from the rear and pulled the bus into a safe location. The bus was safely evacuated with all passengers unharmed and moved to safety.

“The small fire was extinguished using the onboard safety equipment prior to the emergency services arriving on the scene,” he said.