Police describe cab driver who bashed down bus door as ‘heroic’

A CAB company has joined the chorus of authorities praising the Brisbane cab driver who kicked down the back door of a bus to save the passengers inside.

A man is being hailed a hero after saving a number of passengers in the Moorooka bus fire attack. Picture: Channel 9

A CAB company has joined the chorus of authorities praising the taxi driver who kicked down the back door of a bus to free passengers as it burst into flames.

Details over what is being described as a “truly heinous crime” are slowly emerging after a bus driver was killed in Brisbane when a passenger boarded and allegedly “set him on fire”.

Aguek Nyok, a local cab driver that had stopped to get a haircut, toldThe Courier Mail he saw the incident unfold in front of him and witnessed passengers “kicking the window and screaming at me to open the door”.

“Literally as I pulled up I saw and heard the front of the bus explode and a guy ran out and he was covered in flames, head to toe,” he said.

“All the people were at the back trying to get out of the bus but they couldn’t get out the front because of the flames.

“They couldn’t open the back door so I kicked it down and they all came running out.

“Even when the door opened it kept trying to close on me and it was so, so hot in there.”

Brisbane’s Yellow Cab company have confirmed the cab driver, Mr Nyok, is a part of their fleet, and “are not surprised” by his heroic actions.

“I agree with the police that he’s a hero,” said Yellow Cab general manager Bill Parker.

“I’m not surprised because this is not unusual for drivers of our fleet to be out there in the community.

“Unfortunately someone has passed away and that’s very sad.”

It is understood the company was yet to speak to Mr Nyok as he is still talking to police.

“We like to believe we’re part of the social structure of our community,” Mr Parker told The Courier-Mail.

He said he was “not surprised” by Mr Nyok’s quick thinking and said the company’s specific cab driver first aid training was crucial to drivers’ development.

“They’re not trained to fix a broken leg but they’re trained how to recognise if someone is having medical trauma,” Mr Parker said.

“They have saved peoples’ lives in the past but nothing as horrific as this.”

A witness at the crime scene took this video of fire crews extinguishing the bus fire in Moorooka. @ABCNewsBrisbane pic.twitter.com/tkNF0V1pCA

— Casey Briggs (@CaseyBriggs) October 28, 2016

Clair Savage, who was in a shop nearby when the scene unfolded, saw Mr Nyok bash down the door.

Ms Savage told The Courier-Mail she saw the bus pull up and saw people screaming for help inside.

She ran out and saw Mr Nyok repeatedly bashing the door to give way to panicked passengers still trapped inside.

The shop owner ran outside with a fire extinguisher but the flames “kept reigniting, with the driver trapped inside”.

Police say no apparent motive, no robbery ... just senseless taking of a life of a young person#Moorooka@ABCNewsBrisbane

— Emma Blackwood (@EmmaBlackwood11) October 28, 2016

Police say a man who kicked down bus back door to free passengers from fire "heroic at the very least"#Moorooka@ABCNewsBrisbane

— Emma Blackwood (@EmmaBlackwood11) October 28, 2016

More to come.

Originally published as Police describe cab driver who bashed down bus door as ‘heroic’