A double-decker tourist bus caught fire in Victoria, Gozo on Tuesday morning, causing traffic chaos.

According to police, the incident happened at 11:15am in Fortunato Mizzi street. 

At the time there were no tourists on board the Gozo Sightseeing bus, which usually provides a hop on, hop off tour of the island.

One eyewitness said the incident caused a huge backlog of traffic in Gozo's main road.

Photographs showed flames appearing to come from the engine at the rear of the vehicle. The flames were doused before they could spread to the rest of the bus. 

The engine of the bus in flames.

No injuries were reported and members of civil protection, along with police, were at the scene to control the fire.

At this stage, there is no information as to what caused the fire. 

Police investigations are ongoing.

An eyewitness described seeing smoke rising from the vehicle before realising the back of a bus had gone up in flames. 

“As the flames ate away at the engine parts, a fairly loud bang startled us. It must have been some part that had overheated and burned,” the eyewitness said.

Other said the road was relatively quiet when the bus caught fire but the incident caused traffic congestion afterwards. 

The operator of Gozo Sightseeing bus, Ennio Farrugia confirmed that at the time the bus caught fire there was only the driver on board.

He told Times of Malta that he will also investigate privately to determine the cause of the fire.