YONG PENG (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Thirty-two Indonesian tourists escaped unhurt when their tour bus burst into flames on the North-South Expressway in Malaysia on Thursday (Dec 14) morning.

According to 47-year-old bus driver Sanusi Mohd Yusof, the group from Jakarta arrived in Johor Baru at around 6pm on Wednesday (Dec 13), and stayed for one night at a hotel.

"We left the hotel at about 8.30am (the next morning) for Kuala Lumpur and I suddenly smelled something burning, almost three hours into the journey," Mr Yusof said.

He then quickly told all the passengers to disembark immediately after seeing black smoke coming out from the rear of the vehicle.

Their luggage, including their passports, were destroyed in the fire.

Meanwhile, Yong Peng Fire and Rescue Department operations officer Nazari Keling said the department received a distress call at about 11.10am.

He said one fire engine from the Yong Peng station with four firefighters were deployed to the scene with a water tanker from the Ayer Hitam station.

"We managed to put out the fire after two hours, and the bus was badly damaged in the incident," said Mr Nazari.

The cause of the fire was unknown.