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Beijing, January 5
In a suspected arson attack, at least 17 persons, including nine women, were killed and 32 others injured today when a passenger bus was set ablaze by a disgruntled man in northwest China.
The accident happened when the bus went up in flames near a furniture mall in Helan County’s Yinchuan city in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. Police arrested Ma Yongping who was suspected to have set the bus on fire. He was caught with burnt clothes.
While there is no word yet on why he set the bus on fire, China has witnessed such incidents in the past with disgruntled people with grievances carried fuel into the buses and set them on fire.
The dead included eight men and nine women. All the 32 injured, aged between 20 and 65, are being treated at Ningxia Medical University General Hospital in Yinchuan, capital of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, said Ma Kai, vice mayor of Yinchuan.
Six of the injured are in serious condition, including one critical, said Jia Shaobing, deputy president of the hospital. The condition of others are stable. “I was sitting at the front of the bus when suddenly people started screaming ‘Fire! Bus on Fire!’,” Hu Yuexiang, recalled.
“When I turned around, the flames were racing toward me and quickly my shoes were on fire. I thought the bus was about to explode, and I was going to die,” Hu said. “Then the door opened and we all rushed out”, Hu said.
