Bus burns inside Ft. McHenry tunnel

Update 5:55pm: The Baltimore Sun reports that there were no injuries and no children on the bus, but that two lanes of the inside southbound bore are also closed.

Original post: Travelers beware: Baltimore's Fort McHenry tunnel is closed to northbound traffic as a school bus is engulfed in flame inside the passageway, reportedly causing multiple victims of smoke inhalation and serious delays on I-95.

A Baltimore fire department official says a school bus has caught fire in the Fort McHenry tunnel. Fire department spokesman Chief Kevin Cartwright says firefighters were called to the tunnel around 4:40 p.m. Tuesday for a report of a school bus on fire.

Cartwright says two people who were able to walk out of the Interstate 95 tunnel that runs under Baltimore's harbor may be suffering from smoke inhalation and are being evaluated. But he says there are no other reports of injuries. He says it's not clear whether there were any children on the school bus when it caught fire.

Local television showed cars heading into the tunnel stopped in the road and people walking out of the tunnel.

The Baltimore Sun passes on this email from the city's firefighters:

"Right now, YOUR Baltimore Firefighters are battling a fully involved bus fire INSIDE bore #3, northbound, of the Fort McHenry Tunnel. There are reports of multiple victims with smoke inhalation."

The northbound bores of the tunnel are completely closed, and northbound passage on the interstate will be tough.

--Staff and wire reports and the Baltimore Sun