48 killed as bus bursts into flames
Source: Shanghai Daily |
June 8, 2013, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
AN express bus burst into flames on an elevated roadway in southeastern China yesterday, killing at least 48 people and injuring 33 others.
The blaze occurred during evening rush hour in the prosperous port city of Xiamen, Xinhua news agency reported.
A local fire official told The Associated Press that bodies were piled up inside the bus. He said the cause of the fire was still under investigation.
Operations of the entire express bus system in the city, known as Bus Rapid Transit, were suspended after the accident, Xinhua said.
The news agency quoted a survivor as saying she smelled gasoline and then saw fire spreading rapidly.
Photos posted online showed huge clouds of black smoke rising from the burning bus. Victims were seen bleeding with their clothes torn and burns on their skin.
The official news site in the city, Xiamen Net, reported that witnesses heard sounds of explosions after the fire had been burning for about 10 minutes.
A survivor who was named as Jiang Xiaoting said she had been sitting at the back of the bus when she smelled something strange before the bus reached the Jinshan station, according to the news site.
"Then I heard people screaming. I quickly stood up and wanted to get out of the bus through the window, but someone crushed my leg. Then I felt my leg burnt," she said.
Eventually Jiang managed to escape from the inferno.
The fire had broken out when the bus was 500 meters away from the Jinshan bus stop, local government said.
A Xinhua reporter at the scene said the bus was burned down to its metal frame.
A passenger surnamed Yang who had been slightly injured told Xinhua that she had been using her mobile phone when she smelled gasoline and saw another passenger smashing a window in an attempt to escape. The fire spread quickly, she said.
A work team led by State Councilor Guo Shengkun, who is also the public security minister, has been dispatched to the scene.
Xiamen's BRT system began operations in 2008. It covers more than 80 kilometers in the city and carries more than 250,000 people every day. Xiamen Net said the buses are often packed during rush hour.
China's public transit has been expanding rapidly over the past decade, but there are worries that the country is sacrificing safety in its rush to roll out modern services.
In 2011, a high-speed train accident near the eastern city of Wenzhou killed 40 people. Later that year, a collision on a new subway line in Shanghai injured hundreds of people.
The blaze occurred during evening rush hour in the prosperous port city of Xiamen, Xinhua news agency reported.
A local fire official told The Associated Press that bodies were piled up inside the bus. He said the cause of the fire was still under investigation.
Operations of the entire express bus system in the city, known as Bus Rapid Transit, were suspended after the accident, Xinhua said.
The news agency quoted a survivor as saying she smelled gasoline and then saw fire spreading rapidly.
Photos posted online showed huge clouds of black smoke rising from the burning bus. Victims were seen bleeding with their clothes torn and burns on their skin.
The official news site in the city, Xiamen Net, reported that witnesses heard sounds of explosions after the fire had been burning for about 10 minutes.
A survivor who was named as Jiang Xiaoting said she had been sitting at the back of the bus when she smelled something strange before the bus reached the Jinshan station, according to the news site.
"Then I heard people screaming. I quickly stood up and wanted to get out of the bus through the window, but someone crushed my leg. Then I felt my leg burnt," she said.
Eventually Jiang managed to escape from the inferno.
The fire had broken out when the bus was 500 meters away from the Jinshan bus stop, local government said.
A Xinhua reporter at the scene said the bus was burned down to its metal frame.
A passenger surnamed Yang who had been slightly injured told Xinhua that she had been using her mobile phone when she smelled gasoline and saw another passenger smashing a window in an attempt to escape. The fire spread quickly, she said.
A work team led by State Councilor Guo Shengkun, who is also the public security minister, has been dispatched to the scene.
Xiamen's BRT system began operations in 2008. It covers more than 80 kilometers in the city and carries more than 250,000 people every day. Xiamen Net said the buses are often packed during rush hour.
China's public transit has been expanding rapidly over the past decade, but there are worries that the country is sacrificing safety in its rush to roll out modern services.
In 2011, a high-speed train accident near the eastern city of Wenzhou killed 40 people. Later that year, a collision on a new subway line in Shanghai injured hundreds of people.
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