KOTA KINABALU (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - A faulty braking system is believed to have triggered a fire that destroyed a tourist bus with 39 Chinese tourists on board along the Tamparuli-Ranau road on the Pan Borneo Highway, about 45km from the city on Sunday night (Feb 19).

Tuaran district police chief Deputy Supt Dzulbaharin Ismail said that the driver had stopped the vehicle to check after catching the smell of burning rubber at about 7.30pm.

"After realising a rear tyre was on fire, he immediately asked all 39 tourists to get off the bus and attempted to put out the fire," he said in a statement Monday.

However, DSP Dzulbaharin added that the extinguisher used was not sufficient to put the fire that had spread rapidly, eventually destroying the entire bus.

He added that the bus company provided another vehicle to take all the tourists back to Kota Kinabalu.

DSP Dzulbaharin said that the Fire and Rescue Services Department's forensic team were currently carrying out an investigation into the fire.