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Guangzhou bus fire kills 2, injures 32

Source: Xinhua | July 15, 2014, Tuesday | Online Edition

TWO people died and 32 were injured in a bus explosion in Guangzhou Tuesday evening, police said.
At least eight people were critically injured and were under intensive care.

A woman 3 months pregnant was among the injured, but her condition was not critical, said sources with the Second People's Hospital in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province.

Of the six injured passengers who were sent to the Second People's Hospital, two were in critical condition.

The other injured passengers were landed at Xinghai hospital and No. 421 hospital in downtown Guangzhou.

Most victims suffered burn-related injuries, and in the severest case, burns exceeded 60 percent of the body surface.

A woman with arm injuries said she was waiting at the bus stop when she heard a bang and saw flames engulfing the vehicle. "I tried to flee, but the flames spread so fast that I could not run anywhere."

Mr. Ling fled the bus but was pushed badly by the panic-stricken crowd behind him. He was landed in hospital with bruises.

"I had been on the bus for a while before the explosion. It was crowded as usual, with more than 40 people," said Ling. "But I did not see or smell anything wrong beforehand."

Eight patients were landed at the No. 421 hospital of the People's Liberation Army. Xinhua reporters saw four patients receiving treatment, but all were too weak to talk.

The blast went off on a bus that was in service on route 301 at around 7:30pm, a spokesman with Guangzhou's public security bureau said.

The cause of the accident is still under investigation.

The fully-packed bus had pulled over at Nandunhe stop on Guangzhou Avenue and its doors were still open when the blast happened.

"I heard a bang and saw the entire bus was on fire," said a witness who gave only his family name as Ye. "I was less than 20 meters from the bus, but could feel the heatwave."

Ye said he saw panic-stricken passengers rushing out of the bus, some with burns. "But there were still people stranded on the bus."

He saw volunteers, mostly people from roadside stores, trying to put out the flames with fire extinguisher, "but of no avail".

Mr. Huang was standing just across the street when the explosion happened. "I heard an escaped passenger say the blast went off just a few seconds after he got off, and there were still more than 30 people on the bus."

Mr. Xian, a cabby who offers passengers rides on his motorbike, was about 40 meters behind the bus. "It happened at the rush hour, and crowds of people were waiting at the bus stop."

Another cabby said he saw a bespectacled man with burns on the arm sitting on the ground and weeping. "Another man sitting close to him had lost both legs."

The site of the explosion is on Guangzhou Avenue, a pivotal road linking the northern and southern parts of the city. After the explosion, traffic was at a standstill and large crowds of people were watching the scene.

On July 5, a 34-year-old man was suspected of setting off fire on a bus packed with tourists in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, and 32 people were injured.



 

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