MOSCOW (AP) — A bus fire in Kazakhstan killed 52 people on Thursday in a vast snow-covered steppe, officials said.

The tragedy happened near the village of Kalybai in the northern Aktobe region, the Emergencies Department of the former Soviet nation in Central Asia said. Authorities said that only five of 57 people on the bus managed to escape the blaze. They are being treated for injuries.

Officials said that according to preliminary information all of the victims were citizens of neighboring Uzbekistan. Of the survivors, two are citizens of Kazakhstan who were taking turns to drive the bus a...