A large blaze destroyed 47 public buses at a depot in southern Mexico on Wednesday as authorities investigated whether it was an act of arson.

No injuries were reported in the pre-dawn inferno in the southern city of Villahermosa, Tabasco state authorities said.

Authorities are investigating whether the fire was intentionally set, Tabasco's chief prosecutor Fernando Valenzuela said, noting that bus cooperatives have been fighting over control of the service.

"We can't rule out that it could have been intentional," Valenzuela told Milenio television.

Investigators are also looking at the possibility that the fire was caused by a short-circuit or because of gasoline that was illegally kept at the bus depot.

The blaze disrupted bus services in Villahermosa, a city of 640,000 people, as two central routes were shut down due to the incident.
Source: AFP