2 dead, 10 hurt in bus blaze
Source: Xinhua |
July 22, 2010, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
At least two people were killed and more than 10 injured when an airport shuttle bus in Changsha, capital city of central China's Hunan Province, caught fire yesterday, police said.
The bus caught fire near an expressway tollgate as it traveled from Changsha's Huanghua International Airport to the city proper at about 4:00pm, police said.
The injured were rushed to a local hospital.
It is not known how many people were aboard the bus.
The front of the bus was completely destroyed and many parts of the cabin were burnt.
The bus's windows were shattered and glass shards lay scattered on the road. The pungent smell of gasoline still lingered in the air hours after the blaze.
Police cordoned off the area and tightened airport security, including searching passengers boarding shuttle buses.
The cause of the fire is being investigated. Some witnesses said they believe it was arson.
Peng Haibo, a witness at the scene, said he saw the bus engulfed by flames and thick smoke as terrified passengers jumped out of the bus's windows to escape the inferno.
Another witness who gave her surname as Chen said a passenger told her somebody lit a red-striped bag and kicked it toward the bus driver's seat just before the fire.
"He said he thought the man who lit the bag must have been a terrorist so he opened the window and jumped out," Chen said.
Many bloggers on Sina.com, a popular Chinese Internet portal, expressed shock at what had happened.
"Goodness me! I have ridden the airport shuttle bus many times. I hope it was not a terrorist attack," said one posting.
Last year a passenger ignited gasoline on a bus in Chengdu, capital of southwestern Sichuan Province, killing 27 and injuring dozens more.
In 2005 a 42-year-old farmer with terminal lung cancer set off a home-made bomb aboard a bus in southeastern China, in a suicide attack that wounded 31.
The bus caught fire near an expressway tollgate as it traveled from Changsha's Huanghua International Airport to the city proper at about 4:00pm, police said.
The injured were rushed to a local hospital.
It is not known how many people were aboard the bus.
The front of the bus was completely destroyed and many parts of the cabin were burnt.
The bus's windows were shattered and glass shards lay scattered on the road. The pungent smell of gasoline still lingered in the air hours after the blaze.
Police cordoned off the area and tightened airport security, including searching passengers boarding shuttle buses.
The cause of the fire is being investigated. Some witnesses said they believe it was arson.
Peng Haibo, a witness at the scene, said he saw the bus engulfed by flames and thick smoke as terrified passengers jumped out of the bus's windows to escape the inferno.
Another witness who gave her surname as Chen said a passenger told her somebody lit a red-striped bag and kicked it toward the bus driver's seat just before the fire.
"He said he thought the man who lit the bag must have been a terrorist so he opened the window and jumped out," Chen said.
Many bloggers on Sina.com, a popular Chinese Internet portal, expressed shock at what had happened.
"Goodness me! I have ridden the airport shuttle bus many times. I hope it was not a terrorist attack," said one posting.
Last year a passenger ignited gasoline on a bus in Chengdu, capital of southwestern Sichuan Province, killing 27 and injuring dozens more.
In 2005 a 42-year-old farmer with terminal lung cancer set off a home-made bomb aboard a bus in southeastern China, in a suicide attack that wounded 31.
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