35 passengers die in tour bus fire
Print Edition
THIRTY-FIVE people, two of them children, died in a bus fire in central China’s Hunan Province yesterday morning.
Another 11 people are in hospital, four of them with serious injuries, Xinhua news agency reported.
The tour bus had left from Hunan’s Hengyang with 55 people on board and was heading for Mangshan Mountain in Chenzhou when it crashed into guardrails on a highway in Yizhang County, according to China Central Television.
Police said fire broke out after the vehicle’s fuel tank ruptured in the accident and spilled its contents.
The fire raged for over half an hour before it was extinguished around 11am, said a witness surnamed Chen.
Driver Liu Dahui, 41, has been placed in police detention. The bus was operated by the Hengyang City Junda Tourism Transport Co.
A survivor surnamed Huang told Xinhua news agency that the driver told them the bus door could not be opened, and he then escaped through the window next to his seat.
Huang said he smashed a window with a fire extinguisher so that he and others could escape the flames.
Another witness told The Beijing News that the driver said a tire had blown out and he had lost control of the vehicle.
The witness, who was not named, said: “I saw some passengers who escaped from the bus writhing on the ground, trying to put out the flames on their bodies.
“Some were critically burned, with their bones being exposed,” the witness said.
Video footage taken by a witness showed flames engulfing the bus just minutes after the crash. Screams could be heard.
Some passengers were seen limping from the vehicle, covered in blood.
Public Security Minister Guo Shengkun ordered all-out efforts to save the injured, identify the cause of the accident, and to take measures to prevent similar tragedies from happening in the future.
A work team headed by Vice Public Security Minister Huang Ming was on its way to the accident site in Hunan yesterday to guide the investigation and handle the aftermath.
Police said an investigation into the incident is underway.
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