5 killed as car ploughs into crowd in Beijing
Print Edition
A SPORTS-UTILITY vehicle plowed through crowds in front of Beijing’s Forbidden City before crashing and catching fire yesterday, killing the three occupants and two tourists and injuring 38 visitors and security officers, police said.
The dead included a female traveler from the Philippines, according to a statement on the Beijing police’s microblog. The other tourist killed was a man from the southern province of Guangdong.
Three other Filipinos and a Japanese man were among the injured, police said.
No word has been given about a possible cause behind the incident.
Police said they were investigating and taking “effective measures to ensure the capital’s safety and stability.”
The injured were among the crowds in front of the iconic Tian’anmen Gate, where a large portrait of Mao Zedong, founder of the New China, hangs and from where tourists enter the southern entrance to the former imperial palace.
The vehicle burst into flames after crashing into a guardrail of Jinshui Bridge across the moat of the Forbidden City at 12:05pm, according to police and Beijing Emergency Medical Center.
The fire was put out soon after. Traffic returned to normal at 1:09pm, Xinhua news agency reported.
The Southern Metropolis Daily quoted an injured Philippine woman named Francesca as saying: “I heard the car’s horn honking, but I noticed it too late. My mind went completely blank, and when I woke again I was completely on the ground.”
Philippine government officials said they had been informed of the death of one of their nationals. “Beijing’s public security bureau informed our embassy that a Filipina was one of those killed in the car crash in Tian’anmen Square earlier today. Three other Filipinos, a male and two females, were also injured and brought to the hospital,” foreign affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez told AFP.
The Beijing police said the driver had veered inside of a barrier separating a crowded sidewalk from busy Chang’an Avenue then drove along the walkway to Tian’anmen Gate, which stands across the avenue from the sprawling Tian’anmen Square.
Chang’an Avenue was closed as police and rescue services converged on the area, but police said traffic was restored just over an hour later.
The incident had every appearance of being deliberate, since the driver apparently jumped a curb at a nearby cross street and traveled about 400 meters to the spot where it was said to have caught fire while avoiding trees, street lights and at least one security checkpoint.
Police did not immediately release any information about who was inside the car.
Photos of the scene that circulated on the Internet showed images of a vehicle emitting thick smoke at Tian’anmen Gate. Injured people, including a young girl, lay on the ground, many of them bleeding heavily.
Officials from the Chinese central government, Ministry of Public Security and Beijing government arrived at the scene after the incident to guide the rescue efforts, Xinhua said.
They called for all-out efforts to save the lives of the injured, a quick search for the truth behind the incident and strong measures to guarantee the safety and stability of the capital city. The injured were receiving treatment at hospitals.
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