Suspected arsonist arrested after 17 killed in bus fire in northern China
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 05 January, 2016, 10:25am
UPDATED : Tuesday, 05 January, 2016, 6:36pm
Mimi Lau and Zhuang Pinghui
The bus ablaze and details of the suspect. Photo: SCMP Pictures
A 34-year-old man has been arrested on Tuesday afternoon for allegedly setting a public bus ablaze in northern China in the morning, killed 17 people.
The suspect, identified as Ma Yongping, was arrested in a residential community in Helan county in the city of Yinchuan in the Ningxia region slightly before 5pm.
Officers spent four hours negotiating with Ma before he gave himself up to police. Ma, who suffered burns himself from the incident, was rushed to hospital for treatment, CCTV reported.
The initial death toll was 14, but it was lifted to 17 after three more bodies were found as workers cleaned out the wreckage, Yinchuan vice-mayor Ma Kai said. Police are collecting DNA samples to verify the victims’ identities.
Thirty-two people, aged 20 to 65, were also injured, Xinhua reported. They were taken to hospital, with seven under intensive care. One person suffered 99 per cent burns.
A hospital spokesman said eight of the victims were presently in critical condition.
The bus no. 301 was travelling on a highway in the county when it caught fire at 7.03am as it approached a bus stop, Xinhua said. Firefighters put out the blaze about 20 minutes later.
A woman who works in area said: “By the time I came in to work, there was nothing left but a metal bus frame. My colleague who witnessed the incident said the bus caught fire after arriving at a bus station.
“People were trying to run away from the bus and several bodies were seen lying outside it with their clothes all burned. It was horrific. I’m scared now that travelling by bus has become dangerous.”
Citing witnesses, The Beijing News reported that victims who ran out from the burning bus were rolling on the ground, engulfed in flames.
Television footage from CCTV showed the bus burning until almost nothing remained.
Local transport official told reporters that the bus was bought in 2007 with 31 seats and a maximum capacity of 84 passengers.
Last January, an arsonist injured more than 30 people when he decided to “take revenge on society” by setting fire to a bus in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. That arsonist was executed.
