BEIJING – At least 25 people died and dozens were hurt Friday
when a packed commuter bus burst into flames and was destroyed
within minutes during the morning rush hour in the southwestern
Chinese city of Chengdu.
Videos posted online and shown on state television showed thick
black smoke and flames pouring from the bus on the side of a busy
highway. One badly burned woman was shown lying on the road with a
man standing nearby, his clothes burned off.
A total of 76 people were injured, with six of them in intensive
care, city government spokesman Ma Zhixiong said.
State broadcaster CCTV cited witnesses as saying the sealed,
air-conditioned bus caught fire without an explosion and then
burned rapidly. Like many vehicles in Chengdu, the capital of
Sichuan province, the bus ran on natural gas rather than gasoline.
Interviewed by a Web site operated by the Chengdu city
government, resident Tao Shoulang said he was sitting in the front
row with his grandniece when the bus filled with smoke so quickly
that he was unable to see the driver.
Pedestrians rushed to break the vehicle's windows, allowing Tao
to toss the little girl to safety before scrambling out. Both
sustained only minor injuries.
Previous fires and explosions aboard public buses in
China have been blamed on rogue bombers or
people seeking revenge for perceived slights, but mechanical
problems are not uncommon. Three people were killed last year in a
fire aboard a sealed, air-conditioned bus in Shanghai, with witnesses saying some passengers were
trapped because windows could not be opened and at least one door
was stuck shut.
Wang Hongyan, a professor at Tongji
University's vehicle design institute in Shanghai, said such
buses should be equipped with hammers to allow passengers to break
windows, but China's national regulations don't currently require
that.
Wang said natural gas used by buses is stored in tanks at
extremely high pressure, increasing the risk of ignition in the
event of a leak.
"Once the tank is breached, the gas will leak very quickly," she
said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090605/ap_on_re_as/as_china_bus_fire
