Photo: Bus Catches Fire at Capitola Mall

The back of a municipal bus burst into flames on Friday evening, scaring the 20 passengers that had to be evacuated.

At about 5:24 p.m., the bus was making a scheduled stop at 3908 Capitola Road when the driver looked in his mirror and saw smoke coming from the engine, which is located at the rear of the diesel bus.

According to the Santa Cruz Sentinel, everyone was safely evacuated and no one was injured.

Dispatchers reported that the incident occured by King's Cleaners across from the Capitola Mall entrance. 

Because the engine was so badly destroyed, the cause of the fire may never be determined, according to the Sentinel. 

Patch reader Derek Scranton sent in the photo above from the scene.