2016-01-05
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Police investigate the scene of a bus fire in Helan county, China, Jan. 5, 2016.
AFP
Authorities in the northern Chinese region of Ningxia are holding a man suspected of setting fire to a bus filled with passengers, killing 17 people and injuring dozens more during morning rush hour on Tuesday, official media reported.
Police detained suspected arsonist Ma Yongping after the blaze sparked a manhunt in Ningxia's Helan county, ruling Chinese Communist Party paper the People's Daily said in a post to its official microblog account.
The fire started aboard the 301 bus route at around 7:08 a.m. outside a furniture store in Helan county, close to the regional capital of Yinchuan, state news agency Xinhua reported.
The bus was operated by state-owned Yinchuan Public Transport Co., and was heading for the city's railway station, it said.
Photos posted of the blaze online showed the entire bus aflame and engulfed with black smoke.
Some posts suggested that Ma had started the fire out of anger over back pay owed to him by an employer. However, official media said his motivation was still unknown.
An employee who answered the phone at the Ningxia Medical University hospital on Tuesday said many of the injured had been transferred to a special burns unit.
"They're no longer in the main building here, but they have been sent to the burns unit," the employee said. "Some went into intensive care, and some are under observation."
Flames, smoke
A Helan resident who asked to remain anonymous said she had seen the fire and smoke rising from the scene along with large numbers of police and emergency vehicles.
"It's pretty scary ... a lot of people on that bus were just going to work in the morning," she said. "I wasn't at the scene, but I saw flames and smoke; I think the police had already got there by that time."
She added: "I feel very sad for those poor, unlucky people. It even occurred to me to take the bus to work this morning."
"Now I won't dare to take the bus."
Another resident surnamed Li said local people are now waiting anxiously for more information.
"We are waiting to see what the government is going to say," she said. "There is always such a delay in getting information, and some people are wondering if their friends and family were killed or injured."
"Of course we are all very worried; it could be the friend of a friend, or someone in our family [in the bus]."
An employee at a business near where the suspected arson attack took place said the entire area had been cordoned off for several hours.
"We didn't go to work today; we were in shock," the employee said. "The incident happened when we were on our way to work but we didn't see it."
"They have cleaned everything up now, and everything has returned to normal."
"The cordon has just been lifted."
