HANGZHOU - Thirty-two people were injured after a bus caught fire on Saturday afternoon in downtown Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province.

The fire broke out at around 5 pm Saturday when the bus was on the Qingchun Road in the downtown of Hangzhou.

All the injured were rushed to three hospitals for treatment. Twenty-four of them were in serious condition, said the Hangzhou Health Bureau.

No death case has been reported, although doctors managed to help one injured person regain heart beating and breathing after their sudden stop.

According to security guards and salesmen of a shop nearby, the fire broke out all of a sudden and the flames were huge. The front door of the bus was opened but the middle door remained shut. Many passengers had to smash window glass to flee.

The cause of the blaze is being investigated.