5 killed as Guiyang bus bursts into flames
Print Edition
FIVE people were killed and 35 were injured yesterday afternoon when a fire broke out on a bus in Guiyang City, capital of southwest China’s Guizhou Province, local authorities said.
The cause of the blaze is still unknown, but the fire broke out about 1pm as the No. 237 bus was passing by a primary school in the northern part of the city.
The driver, who is in his 40s, said he thinks there were about 50 people on the vehicle when the blaze erupted.
“My first instinct was to open the door so that people could get off as soon as possible,” he said.
Witness Qu Bin said he was just 2 meters away from the bus when it caught fire.
“I saw flames coming out of the windows, then the whole bus went on fire amid cries and screams for help,” he said.
People were jumping out of the bus with their clothes and hair on fire, he said.
Images posted on Sina Weibo showed the bus engulfed in flames and thick black plumes of smoke rising to the sky.
Fire officers arrived on the scene and used hoses to douse the burning vehicle. The 35 people injured in the blaze were taken to four separate hospitals.
Yang Li and her sister Yang Kai were among 10 people sent to Guiyang Jinyang Hospital.
Despite their cries of pain as nursing staff tended to the burns on their hands and faces, the two women and the other eight people taken to the hospital were all said to be doing well.
Yang Li said the fire spread so quickly that people didn’t even think to use the emergency hammers to smash the windows.
On an online forum, one Internet user said how he narrowly missed being on the bus.
“I tried to get on the bus, but I couldn’t because it was already full,” the person wrote.
Police have cordoned off the site and are investigating the cause of the blaze.
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