Death crash bus driver tests positive for drugs
By Ni Yinbin and Cai Wenjun |
April 25, 2012, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
The driver of a Shanghai tour bus that collided head-on with a truck, killing 14 people and injuring 20 others, has been detained after he tested positive for drugs after the accident.
Police said yesterday the driver had taken methamphetamine, or ice, with friends on the Friday night.
Wang Zhenwei should take full responsibility for the accident, police from Jiangsu Province said yesterday after ruling out the possibility of any mechanical problems.
Three of Wang's friends have also been detained for drug abuse, Shanghai police said.
Wang had not had enough sleep before he set off from Shanghai to Changshu in Jiangsu Province early on Sunday morning, police said.
They found that Wang stayed at an Internet cafe on Friday night after taking drugs and drove a group of tourists to Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province the next morning.
The 38-year-old drove back to Shanghai on Saturday night but spent another night in an Internet cafe before Sunday morning's deadly journey. Wang had slept for less than four hours in two days, police said.
The bus was heading to Changshu for a flower show when it crashed through a guardrail into the opposite lane of an expressway at about 9:30am to collide with the truck.
Six passengers and the truck driver were killed instantly while seven other passengers died in the hospital. Wang, from Shandong Province, suffered only slight injuries.
He had worked for the bus company for just two months, said Zhao Yuli, an official with the Shanghai Yiliu Vehicle Renting Service Co in Pudong's Nanhui area, which hired the bus to the travel agency that organized the tour.
Zhao said Wang had all the necessary qualifications and the bus, which had been in service since December 2010, had been inspected before leaving.
Meanwhile, another 14 of the injured were transferred to Shanghai from Changshu yesterday, the Shanghai Health Bureau said.
The only passenger left in Changshu is in a stable condition. But the bureau said the injuries meant transportation was out of the question.
The 14 patients, whose injuries were not serious, are being treated at Shanghai's Changhai and Zhongshan hospitals.
Four seriously injured patients are being treated at Shanghai No. 6 People's Hospital after they arrived there on Monday.
Meanwhile, police have launched a nationwide program of testing coach drivers for drug use, Xinhua news agency said.
The program will run to the end of June and anyone found to have a history of drug use will be suspended and those found addicted would lose their driving licenses and be banned from the business, Xinhua reported, citing a Ministry of Public Security statement.
Police will also inspect the operation of coaches. Coach firms and travel agencies will be suspended if they fail to adopt safety measures, and coaches that do not meet safety standards must not be used.
So far this year, the number of traffic accidents involving coaches was more than 40 percent higher than in the same period of last year, and the casualty rate in such incidents had risen by 158.2 percent, the ministry statement said.
Police said yesterday the driver had taken methamphetamine, or ice, with friends on the Friday night.
Wang Zhenwei should take full responsibility for the accident, police from Jiangsu Province said yesterday after ruling out the possibility of any mechanical problems.
Three of Wang's friends have also been detained for drug abuse, Shanghai police said.
Wang had not had enough sleep before he set off from Shanghai to Changshu in Jiangsu Province early on Sunday morning, police said.
They found that Wang stayed at an Internet cafe on Friday night after taking drugs and drove a group of tourists to Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province the next morning.
The 38-year-old drove back to Shanghai on Saturday night but spent another night in an Internet cafe before Sunday morning's deadly journey. Wang had slept for less than four hours in two days, police said.
The bus was heading to Changshu for a flower show when it crashed through a guardrail into the opposite lane of an expressway at about 9:30am to collide with the truck.
Six passengers and the truck driver were killed instantly while seven other passengers died in the hospital. Wang, from Shandong Province, suffered only slight injuries.
He had worked for the bus company for just two months, said Zhao Yuli, an official with the Shanghai Yiliu Vehicle Renting Service Co in Pudong's Nanhui area, which hired the bus to the travel agency that organized the tour.
Zhao said Wang had all the necessary qualifications and the bus, which had been in service since December 2010, had been inspected before leaving.
Meanwhile, another 14 of the injured were transferred to Shanghai from Changshu yesterday, the Shanghai Health Bureau said.
The only passenger left in Changshu is in a stable condition. But the bureau said the injuries meant transportation was out of the question.
The 14 patients, whose injuries were not serious, are being treated at Shanghai's Changhai and Zhongshan hospitals.
Four seriously injured patients are being treated at Shanghai No. 6 People's Hospital after they arrived there on Monday.
Meanwhile, police have launched a nationwide program of testing coach drivers for drug use, Xinhua news agency said.
The program will run to the end of June and anyone found to have a history of drug use will be suspended and those found addicted would lose their driving licenses and be banned from the business, Xinhua reported, citing a Ministry of Public Security statement.
Police will also inspect the operation of coaches. Coach firms and travel agencies will be suspended if they fail to adopt safety measures, and coaches that do not meet safety standards must not be used.
So far this year, the number of traffic accidents involving coaches was more than 40 percent higher than in the same period of last year, and the casualty rate in such incidents had risen by 158.2 percent, the ministry statement said.
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