Bus Fire Closes Rio’s Rebouças Tunnel Toward Lagoa, Driving Citywide Gridlock

Overview

• Firefighters were alerted at 7:10 a.m. and brought the blaze under control around 8:25 a.m., with officials reporting no victims.
• Passengers and drivers evacuated on foot from the first gallery, which remained closed for hours for structural checks and vehicle removal.
• CET‑Rio and COR advised drivers to avoid the area and use the Santa Bárbara tunnel or Aterro do Flamengo, as backups spread to the Elevado Paulo de Frontin and Avenida Francisco Bicalho.
• About a dozen bus lines were disrupted and detoured, compounding delays across key corridors through the day.
• Multiple crashes elsewhere—including a truck with live chickens at the Covanca tunnel before dawn, a midday collision that injured a man on the Transolímpica, and a later truck‑motorcycle crash on the Linha Amarela—worsened congestion across the city.