Buses taking St. Bonaventure students to the NIT Final Four have caught on fire, lost a safety hatch, and been pulled over by police

St. Bonaventure basketball fans
St. Bonaventure basketball fans.Brett Carlsen/Getty Images
  • A caravan of buses taking St. Bonaventure students to the NIT Final Four is struggling.

  • One bus appears to have caught fire, one lost a hatch, and another was pulled over.

  • Some of the students never made it to the game and had to be picked up and taken back to campus.

A caravan of buses taking St. Bonaventure University students to the NIT Final Four is on its own struggle bus.

The Bonnies are scheduled to face Xavier in the NIT college basketball Final Four on Tuesday night in New York City's Madison Square Garden, but some of their fans might not make it.

According to SBU-TV Sports, five hours before tip-off, one of the buses caught fire; another lost its emergency hatch and later broke down, and a state trooper pulled over a third. There were also unconfirmed reports of a flat tire on at least one bus.

SBU-TV Sports shared a video of the various roadblocks.

According to one of the students on the bus that lost its hatch and suffered other mechanical issues, they were stranded in a gas station for several hours.

A spokesperson for the school told Insider that 13 buses — four large and nine half-size — were taking students and two of the large buses broke down and did not make it to Madison Square Garden.

Some alums were working to find rides for the stranded students.

According to the school, students on the two broken-down buses did not make it to the game and administrators were arranging for them to be picked up and brought back to campus.

The school did estimate that they were still expecting 3,000 alumni and fans at the game in time for the 7 p.m. ET tip-off, including approximately 300 students on the remaining buses.

Read the original article on Insider