Two dead, 25 injured after explosion on Guangzhou bus

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Two dead, 25 injured after explosion on Guangzhou bus

Metropolitan bus explodes and catches fire at Nandunhe Bus Station on Guangzhou Avenue at around 7.30pm, witnesses say

PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 15 July, 2014, 9:15pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 15 July, 2014, 11:28pm

Xinhua in Guangzhou

The scene of the incident on Guangzhou Avenue. Photo: SCMP Pictures

The bus goes up in flames on Guangzhou Avenue. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Two people died and 25 were injured in a bus explosion in Guangzhou on Tuesday evening, police said.

At least eight people were critically injured and have been placed under intensive care.

A woman three months’ pregnant was among the injured, but her condition was not critical, said sources at the Second People’s Hospital in Guangzhou.

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

The other injured passengers were sent to Xinghai hospital and No 421 hospital in central Guangzhou.

A man lies on the pavement near the scene, believed to be dead. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Most victims suffered burn-related injuries, and in the severest case, burns exceeded 60 per cent 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.”

State broadcaster CCTV cited Guangzhou police as saying late on Tuesday night that initial investigation seemed to suggest one or more passengers had brought contraband flammable materials on board which led to the explosion and fire.

A man surnamed Ling fled the bus but was pushed by the panic-stricken crowd behind him. He was sent to 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 [on board],” said Ling. “But I did not see or smell anything wrong beforehand.”

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

The explosion occurred 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 metres from the bus, but could feel the heat wave.”

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

A second victim, a woman, is found near the scene of the fire, believed to be dead. Photo: SCMP Pictures

He saw volunteers, mostly people from roadside shops, trying to put out the flames with fire extinguishers, “but to no avail”.

A man called 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.”

Xian, a driver who offers passengers rides on his motorbike, was about 40 metres behind the bus. “It happened during 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 flocked to the scene.

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