This Fox News Channel handout photo shows a burning bus near Dallas, Texas. The bus taking elderly nursing home residents out of the path of Hurricane Rita caught fire, killing at least 20 people according to local television.(AFP)

Beaumont Fire and Rescue workers load a disabled woman onto the final bus to evacuate Beaumont, TX, Friday, Sept. 23, in anticipation of landfall for Hurricane Rita. (AP Photo by Ann Heisenfelt)

    WASHINGTON, Sept. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- A fire burst out in a bus carrying elders fleeing Hurricane Rita killed 20 aboard early Friday on a highway near the southern US city of Dallas, Texas, police said.

    According to reports of the US TV network CNN, there were 45 people on the bus and the number of the injured was still unknown.

    The accident caused a traffic jam expanding some 30 km on the Interstate 45 highway as tens of thousands of people were on their way toward north to flee the upcoming hurricane.

    There are indications that oxygen equipment used by elderly evacuees on the bus may be the cause of the fire. Enditem