A 29-year-old Brisbane City Council bus driver has been killed after a passenger allegedly doused him with a flammable liquid and set him alight.
Queensland Police Superintendent Jim Keogh said the bus, carrying six passengers, pulled into Moorvale Shopping Centre on Beaudesert Road to pick up three passengers.
The bus driver was identified as Manmeet Alisher, also known as Manmeet Sharma, a 29-year-old prominent in Brisbane's Indian community.
Police Commissioner Ian Stewart said detectives from South Brisbane district and the state crime command's homicide group had started a homicide investigation. A 48-year-old man was in police custody.
"A man threw some type of incendiary device at the driver, sadly, the driver died as a result of these injuries," Mr Stewart said.
Flags will be flown at half mast across Brisbane tomorrow as a mark of respect for the Mr Alisher.
Friends said he was a singer, dancer and used to be a taxi driver and was engaged to be married.
Mr Stewart said there was no indication that it was a racially motivated attack.
"Our top priority now is to assist the loved ones of the bus driver who sadly perished in this incident."
Superintendent Keogh said the fire "was substantial, he would have stood little chance".
"Police are speaking to passengers, as you can imagine they are traumatised, we are providing assistance in that regard," he said.
"They are visibly shaken, traumatised."
About noon, businesses were being told to evacuate after an emergency situation was declared around the area and the bomb squad moved in to investigate the bus.
Superintendent Keogh said the burning was a senseless and confronting act.
"I have been confronted with many situations but this is a rare one, but this is a rare one with no apparent motive, we are not alleging a robbery," he said.
"It is a senseless, needless taking of a young life of a person who was supporting the community by providing public transport."
Superintendent Keogh said words escaped him in terms of how shocking the incident was.
"It is a horrific incident here in the quiet suburb of Moorooka," he said.
Passing taxi driver hailed a hero
Cab driver Aquek Nyok said he saw the alleged attacker run covered in flames from the smoke-filled bus.
Mr Nyok was called a hero after he kicked in a back door to let passengers escape, but he said he was just doing what anybody would have done.
"I realised people, they were screaming at the back door," he said.
"They were saying, 'please open the door, please open the door'."
Mr Nyok said it took three kicks to force the door open, but there was too much smoke to even attempt to rescue the driver.
Onlooker Clair Savage said Mr Nyok had run out of a nearby shop within 20 seconds of the fire.
"I just said to him, 'you just saved people's lives'."
Ms Savage described seeing a "gigantic set of flames" at the front of the vehicle.
Another onlooker, Julie Meadley, said she arrived just after the fire broke out and saw a mother and child banging on the door.
"It filled with smoke and they couldn't get out, " she said.
"People, onlookers, pried open the doors to get them out."
Emergency services were called to Beaudesert Road about 9am on Friday morning.
The Queensland Ambulance Service said 11 were treated at the scene, some with minor injuries and some who were taken to hospital.
Queensland fire and emergency services had the fire under control at 9.19am and completely extinguished it a minute later.
The firefighters then conducted a search of the vehicle and passengers were being treated by the QAS.
'Pay a special thank you to bus drivers': Lord Mayor
A visibly shaken Lord Mayor, Graham Quirk, said it was a sad day for Brisbane City Council and the city.
Cr Quirk said he would contact the driver's next of kin as soon as they were located.
"This is a young person who's been with Brisbane Transport now for just several months as a casual bus driver and it's just a very, very sad set of circumstances," he said.
Cr Quirk said the council's bus drivers were out servicing the people of Brisbane "each and every day" and they would all be deeply affected.
"To see the loss of one of our bus operators in the way that this has happened today is extremely sad," he said.
"I would just ask at this time for those people who do catch public transport in our city to please pay a special thank you to our drivers for the job that they do."
Cr Quirk said Brisbane City Council buses were fitted out with many safety features, including fire retardant and CCTV.
"That footage has been provided to the Queensland Police Service to assist them in their investigations at this time," he said.
"The advice that I am getting from Queensland Police is that this is a random act."
Cr Quirk said he had been in touch with Brisbane Transport divisional managers to make sure the council's bus drivers were receiving the support they needed.
"They are obviously going to be out at the depot, so it's a case now of making sure that all of our drivers are given the appropriate counselling," he said.
The Lord Mayor said services would not be disrupted as a result of the shocking attack.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the thoughts of Queenslanders were with the bus driver's family.
"This week has been just filled with tragedy," Ms Palaszczuk said.
"I was absolutely shocked to hear today, in the middle of the Domestic and Family Violence summit, that a young bus driver had lost his life in such horrendous circumstances."