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There has been a lot of talk about safety concerns regarding certain areas in Mexico in recent months, and Cancun has come up in those conversations a number of times. And while much of the crime that occurs doesn’t involve tourists, multiple Cancun tourist buses have recently gone up in flames after intentionally being lit on fire. No tourists have been injured during these incidents, but surely they have caused quite a scare.
The most recent incident occurred on the morning of September 20th and involved a passenger bus that was parked in the Cancun Hotel Zone. The fire broke out on Kukulkan Blvd. on Tuesday morning, and firefighters were called in to fight the intense flames and struggled to put the fire out. The Hotel Zone is the main tourist area in the idyllic vacation destination, but although it was a passenger vehicle, there were no injuries reported.
The situation did cause a bit of chaos in the Hotel Zone, though, slowing traffic on Kukulkan Blvd. for some time. This is according to one witness who shared their thoughts on Twitter. They commented, “Truck fire on Blvd Kukulkán, Cancun. Slow transit to the entrance and exit. They are diverting the exit traffic… The emergency services are already on site.”
This isn’t the first time vehicles have been set on fire in Cancun, and in fact, only one day prior to the Hotel Zone bus fire, there was another incident reported. This took place on September 19th in a parking lot near the Benito Juárez airport, not far from Cancun. Several vehicles were burned by armed men, who at around 4:00 in the morning allegedly entered a building, tied up staff members, and then set fire to vehicles in the building.
This incident prompted a quick response from authorities, including those from the state of Quintana Roo. Through its Twitter account, the state commented on the intentionally set fires and the actions it would be taking to address the situation. The agency stated that “an investigation folder was initiated for the facts related to a fire that occurred this morning (yesterday) in a taxi and personnel transport lockdown, located in the El Milagro neighborhood, in the municipality of Benito Juárez.”
The assailants immediately fled the scene and were not captured by authorities at the time, though it is unclear as to whether they have been captured since. Firefighters were deployed to put the fires out and were successful, but that is not to say that there wasn’t damage done before the fires were under control. At the time of the last reporting on the situation, it was still unclear as to how many vehicles were affected by the fires.
Another incident was reported the day before and took place in an area often packed with tourists. This time the armed men reportedly set transport and rental vehicles on fire with personnel inside. The incident took place on Sunday, September 18th, in the Cancun International Airport parking lot, and again, fortunately, nobody was hurt despite the fact that the area is often filled with tourists.
At the time of the first reports of the Hotel Zone tourist bus fire, there were no statements yet made by authorities, and the investigations into all the fires are still ongoing. But although the exact causes of the fires are yet to be determined, it is likely that the armed men setting the fires are fighting for some sort of territorial rights, according to recent reports on other fires. It is expected that authorities will issue a statement on the Hotel Zone fire soon.
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